2 March 2010. Phase Two of MAN Diesel Australia’s Owen Springs Project is well underway with February 2010 seeing the near completion of the power house, control room, switchroom, administration centre, tank farm, pump house and the maintenance workshop buildings.

The power house construction commenced in October 2009 utilising an innovative concrete panel design to form the exterior and interior walls. These panels were formed onsite and have excellent sound attenuation properties, keep construction costs low and facilitate fast installation. Once the concrete panels were installed, the supporting steel framework was then erected and fastened, the exterior clad and painted to complete the building.

The mechanical and electrical installation phases have now commenced and piping is largely complete. All lube oil and fuel oil modules have now been delivered to site and installation is underway. The entire project was modeled using three-dimensional CAD software which in turn was used to generate the isometric drawings for the pipework construction. “Not only does this approach allow for a greater degree of accuracy and product control, but also results in improved site productivity”, notes Paul Howarth, Engineering Manager at MAN Diesel Australia.

As is the case with all Australian Projects completed by MAN Diesel Australia, much of the equipment for the Owen Springs project must be compliant with Australian Standards. In order to ensure these standards are adhered to, MAN Diesel Australia partner with local Australian suppliers and stakeholders. Niel Halvorsen – General Manager expands on this ideal: “For many of our clients, our local engineering capability and supplier relationships are perceived as high value attributes of our business”.

A significant milestone in the project was reached when the first of the three 11MW generator units was loaded onto the ship in Saint Nazaire in France in February 2010, due for arrival in Darwin in early April. Each 276 Tonne generator set will be transported to site using multiple prime movers and a low loading trailer, taking some 6 days via a carefully investigated 1500km route to the site near Alice Springs.

The first generator set is scheduled to be commissioned in July with the complete power station to be handed over to Power and Water corporation in October 2010.

Once operational, the 33MW Owen Springs Power station will provide the highest efficiency open cycle power in Australia.

Written by Michael Masters, Power Plant Sales Engineer, MAN Diesel Australia