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February 2016
Energy Efficiency, Green Building & IBTs
M
obile substations are not a
newconcept but according to
Warwick Jackson, Manag-
ing Director of Efficient Power, the
construction of brick substations
in remote locations has numerous
challenges, such as rural roads and
logistical concerns. Jackson realised
that the answer was to create fully
integrated structures off-site.
The company offers a complete
offsite construction solution with
fully constructed modular plants
leaving the factory with all internal
equipment already installed and
fully integrated. The result is a bare
minimum of site work that is set to
revolutionise the time, risk and cost
involved in large, complex projects.
“Traditionally, substation con-
struction has always been compli-
cated, costly and time consuming,
requiring a large team of expensive
specialists on site to complete the fit-
ting and testing of all the equipment,”
says Jackson.
In contrast, Efficient Power solu-
tions are designed and built accord-
ing to exact specifications. The high-
est standards are upheld throughout
the process.
The launch of the new mobile
modular plant was the result of Effi-
cient Power’s alignment with Efficient
Engineering, allowing it to utilise spe-
cialist skills from several unrelated
industries, bringing together heavy
engineering and fabrication with a
project execution and technical team
to customdesign each element of the
structure.
“This approach makes it pos-
sible to have a large pump station or
substation - equipped with medium
voltage switchgear, a motor control
centre, and a control and instru-
mentation room - fully operational
within aweek of arriving on site. Once
fabricated, themobile building needs
to be equipped, with every possible
piece of equipment commissioned in
the same facility, and test-integrated
so that the building is 100% op-
erational before being relocated,”
explains Jackson.
The completed structures are then
transported to site, where they are
hydraulically lifted and positioned
onto custom-built plinths where
racking and cable work can simply be
connected, resulting in a substation
ready to provide more than thirty
years of service. The entire process is
accomplished in a fraction of the time
it would take to construct on-site.
Efficient Power has already achieved
a turnover of more than R100-million
in its first 18 months of operation.
“We look forward to showing the
industry what can be achieved when
the right group of people and skills
are put together to find a better way
of doing things.”
■
Efficient
Power
introduces
modular
plants
Efficient Power has created an industry solution to address
the challenges of building self-contained modular plants
in remote regions.
Warwick Jackson