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How did you come up with the
‘modular buildings’ idea?
The idea underpinning large integrated
modular plants arose while Warwick Jack-
son was the lead electrical engineer for
Anglo American – Kumba Iron Ore – SSP
on the development of its operations in
the Northern Cape. He had been told that
it was not feasible to build large substa-
tions offsite, because they could not fit into
standard ISO shipping containers, making
delivery impossible.
“After the meeting, I happened to be
driving behind a Komatsu 960 haul truck.
At 11,6 mwide, I realised that products five
times wider than conventional ISO contain-
ers were being routinely delivered to sites
all over Africa,” Jackson says.
On discussing his observation with
his switchgear colleagues, Jackson was
advised to talk to Efficient Engineering.
“Johan Basson, who ran RBF at that time,
now JB Switchgear, recommended Ef-
ficient, which, he said, was not afraid of
size,” he recalls.
“That is where my relationship with Ef-
ficient began. I met Tony Cimato, the then
owner, who showed us how the company
made large buildings, control rooms and
huge shell structures to house equipment:
for shiploaders, e-houses, and reclaimers,
for example,” he adds.
For Kolomela, Efficient Engineering
was willing to build the shells for the sub-
stations, Motor Control Centres (MCCs)
and Control and Instrumentation (C&I)
rooms as single integrated modules, and
fully equip them offsite. “So my staff and
I were given an office here at Efficient,
where we collaborated to build exactly
what we needed for Kolomela. It was a
fantastic way of working,” Jackson says.
What was needed for Kolomela?
The result was the development of seven
‘buildings’ that met the project require-
ments for the entire electrical infrastruc-
ture needed at Kolomela: For the primary,
secondary and tertiary crushers, the run-
of-mine conveyor; the product screen,
the load out station and the dewatering
pump station.
“It was an amazing success. The
modular plants arrived on site 100% com-
missioned. Our slogan was from
motor to
mouse
. Only once everything was signed
off at Efficient Engineering, did we arrange
delivery to site. Once there, we connected
the power cables and everything worked,”
he says.
Were you able to remain within
your budget?
On the Kolomela project, Anglo had a
R500 M budget for the electrical and C&I
infrastructure. For the seven substations,
the building budget was R11 M. “By tak-
ing the offsite modular approach, the shell
structures cost close to R15 M, but by the
time we had completed the installation,
we had under-spent our R500 M electri-
cal budget by R83 M,” Jackson says. So
by agreeing to spend R4 M extra on the
offsite modular construction approach,
R79 M was saved.
The main reason? “The provisional
and general budget virtually disappeared,
because all the work was done offsite. Very
few contactors had to be paid for travel,
accommodation or material shipping costs
to the site. In addition, the contingency
budget went unspent, because there were
no unexpected additional costs due to
onsite issues.
Following the successful deployment of sevenmodular ‘buildings’ for the electrical infrastructure at
the Kolomela mine, Efficient Engineering has pioneered the offsite construction, assembly, testing
and commissioning of complete modular plants similar to these, which include the containment
structures and all functional equipment. Crown Publications
editor, Peter Middleton, talks toWarwick Jackson, now the
managing director of Efficient Power and the inspiration
behind this new approach.
I n C o n v e r s a t i o n W i t h
TRANSFORMERS + SUBSTATIONS
Peter Middleton
Warwick Jackson
Electricity+Control
February ‘16
28