NEWS
19 May 2021
Quartzelec has recently completed an HV transformer and LV panel upgrade for a large distillery in Scotland during their energy centre’s annual planned shutdown.
Having an on-site presence for almost 15 years delivering a HV maintenance contract, we were delighted to be offered the opportunity to get involved in this upgrade.
With timing critical, this was to be a fast-paced project to be carried out over the May Bank Holiday weekend and which would demand several key partners from our supply chain to get involved.
As preparation is key, the Quartzelec Team arrived on-site a week prior to the shutdown for initial site investigations and prep work ready for our HV team to carry out all of the necessary isolations to achieve power down at 1800hrs of Friday 30th April.
With a tight schedule of operations in place our engineers - working fast, needed to remove all cables (ranging from 6mm 3 core to 300mm 4 core) to allow the ‘Lift & Shift’ contractor to extract the old transformer and LV panel. Our fabricators then arrived on-site to reinforce the running rails and steel frame to accept the new transformer - all before 6am on the Saturday morning – and by 1630hrs, the AF Switchgear team had installed the new transformer and panel.
Engineers could now gain access to get all cables terminated, which was no easy task due to space restrictions and access issues to the rear of the panel, but the team rallied to great effect.
This was a great effort by all involved and managing to get the power on well within the allotted time on the bank holiday Monday allowed the client to carry out their checks and tests before normal operational return Tuesday 4th May.
Carrying out the necessary prep work served the team well and ensured there were no surprises when we actually powered down and our on-site knowledge proved invaluable – ensuring a happy client at the end of the works.