New multinational electricity generating plant
- Submitted by: admin
- Science and Technology
- 07 / 03 / 2007
The equipment for this new electricity generating facility is coming from several countries, which have sent specialized personnel to supervise the start-up operation of the equipment.
Something unusual about this plant is that on top the roof the technological installation it has additional equipment that has the function of stopping environmental pollution. This part of the project is about to be finished now.
The way that this electricity generators are installed is different from the way they have been set up in the rest of the country, because there is no infrastructure to receive the heavy fuel, in this case fuel-oil. This was explained by engineer Dilmo Batista Rodriguez, the person in charge of the investments of the electricity company of the Isle of Youth, to which the new facility at Cayo Largo del Sur belongs.
Participating in the installation are workers from the National Electricity Board - Union Electrica- from different provinces. They explained that this is the first time that they have participated in this kind of work. For us it means a lot, because this island can only be reached by air or sea from Cuba or the Isle of Youth, Justo Morfa Rojas, who belongs to the Cienfuegos Technical Services Enterprise commented. We have already finished about 90 percent of the installation of the electrical machinery, and almost all of the automation facilities are also about to be finished too.
The core of the new power plant is formed by four fuel oil operated diesel generating sets, each with a capacity of 1,395 kiloWatts, that when connected in parallel add up to a total generating capacity of 5,6 megaWatts. This is enough to provide all the electricity required by the Cayo Largo del Sur tourist resort, according to enginner Batista Rodriguez.
With this technology we are able to replace the use of diesel fuel with fuel oil, something that represents substantial savings in foreign currency because of the lower fuel costs. At the same time the amount of fuel used is much less because these fuel oil powered diesel generating sets require much less fuel per kilowatt hour generated when compared with the amount of diesel fuel used by the old power plant.
The old power plant will be left as a standby facility in case of any breakdowns at the new installation, and also to provide additional peak power during times when this may be required.
Cayo Largo del Sur is located 177 kilometers away from the City of Havana, and 135 kilometers from Nueva Gerona in the Isle of Youth. It has a total surface of thirty seven and a half square kilometers, and the new generating facility will assure the electricity supply for the whole island.
Source: By Ana Esther Zulueta Avilés, Granma
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