Oil Refinery, Generator Overhaul

Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Project Summary Project Value: £400,000

Service: Major Overhaul
Duration: 4 Months

Background The oil refinery at Fawley, near Southampton is the largest in the UK and one of
the most complex in Europe. Situated on Southampton Water, it has a mile-long
marine terminal that handles around 22 million tonnes of crude oil and other
products every year. The refinery processes around 330,000 barrels of crude oil
a day and provides 20 per cent of UK refinery capacity.

Site emissions have been reduced partly by the acquisition of a £60 million
Cogen unit. This highly energy efficient combined heat and power unit burns fuel
at an efficiency of 75 per cent, twice the efficiency of a conventional power
station and Quartzelec were awarded the contract to carry out the first major
overhaul of the Cogen Generator since its’ change of ownership.

The Project The overhaul of the 2 pole GEC-ALSTHOM Generator, rated at 172.625 MVA,
15,000 V, 6,644 A, took place across 2 sites. The inspection and testing of the
generator in-situ with the rotor shipped back to the Quartzelec Rugby workshop
where a controlled environment could be maintained and suitable recourses
were readily available.

This was the first time that the refinery had managed a major refurbishment of
the Cogen Plant and Quartzelec were required to follow a tight programme.
Work commenced by conducting a mechanical strip down of the generator
which included removal of fan blades, rotor and exciter. At Rugby the retaining
rings were removed, pole-to-pole connections replaced and electrical tests
including IR, PI and recurrent surge oscilloscope test were conducted. The rotor
was dynamically balanced before transportation back to site.

On site, various tests and inspections were carried out on the stator including a
wedge tightness check and El-Cid core tests. Bearings were replaced and the
exciter also overhauled.

Due to the wind and rain, crane lifts were not permitted and this delayed the
rotor from being removed / replaced. However, despite these unfavourable
conditions, Quartzelec succeeded in meeting the tight deadline and exceeded
client expectations.

To discuss your support requirements, or to find out more about our total capability in Rotating
Machines, please contact: info.uk@quartzelec.com or visit www.quartzelec.com