Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20SUMMER EDITION ENGINE ROOM 07 Ben O’Donnell (l) and Luke Johnson (r) completing commissioning of the new power station. “A power plant with this level of sophistication is something quite new for the islands,” says Project Manager Brad Lund. “With the exception of the country’s main power plant, most other small off-grid power plants are not as autonomous.” “The Heritage Park Hotel is the biggest luxury resort in the Solomons capital and the adjacent Bank of South Pacific is the country’s leading bank. Both businesses are now completely isolated from the city’s main power supply and are operating off a new power station supplied by EPSA”. “The cost of power in the Islands is significantly higher than what we pay in Australia, and daily outages are a regular disruption to business. The hotel management instigated a move to independent power once they realised the reliability and cost saving benefits. With a return on investment estimated to be 18 months, the customer can now expect significant savings on their power bill in the long-term.” “The plant was originally specified with just three XQE200’s, however an additional Cat GEH330 was later added to meet the client’s increased capacity needs,” said Brad. “We were able to design, build and commission an automated power station with full-time service support. The retrofit of Woodward generator controllers and the remote monitoring capabilities resulted in a simple and robust solution for the customer”. “The in-house capabilities of our project group in Queensland was outstanding,” adds Brad. “Luke Johnson was the electrical engineer for the project and the control system design was a key part of its success. Ben O’Donnell from the NSW team worked tirelessly with Luke on site to get the plant commissioned. It’s the people that support you as a project manager that really need credit for such an outcome.” Sanjay Bhargava, General Manager, Heritage Park Hotel, said: “I would like to express my appreciation, gratitude, and a big thank you for a job superbly carried out. The work was commenced and executed to plan in a seamless manner.” “Hastings Deering also now have a five-year 24/7 maintenance contract for this power station, which is a great overall result for the Cat dealer network,” adds Brad. “The success of this project may lead other businesses to consider a similar move where mains power issues are a common theme.” 