When a power station in Nottinghamshire required annual routine maintenance procedures, a lull in demand for electricity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic provided a perfect window of opportunity for this to be carried out. No longer fully operational, the coal-powered plant acts as a reserve source of electricity generation and is due to be decommissioned within the next five years.
However, the organisation responsible for managing the site is obliged to fulfil capacity market agreements that include regular upkeep to ensure all UK power supplies continue to be preserved. As a result, the energy company made contact and asked us to devise a specialist pump hire solution to assist with cleaning the upper sections of each cooling tower.
Our client impressed upon us the importance of carrying out this task as the overall performance of the cooling towers is affected by the efficiency of contact between hot water from heat exchangers and the cool air pulled through them. The heat transfer that occurs is greatly enhanced when the towers are clean and allows the heat that is produced to be more easily dissipated into the atmosphere.
To ensure the treatment was successfully completed, we supplied an MH150/100 high performance diesel driven pump to draw water from the base of the cooling towers. High pressure hoses were fitted to a gantry of six metres to enable jetting and cleaning of the internal structures. Water from the operation was then collected to prevent site flooding and pumped by a Super Wispaset 150 into a designated discharge point more than 100 metres away.
This pump rental solution was delivered well before the maintenance was scheduled to commence, remaining on hire for several weeks until the project was finished. By tailoring this solution and delivering the equipment days in advance, we exceeded our customer’s expectations and played a significant part in upholding a power station that has the capacity to provide electricity for more than two million homes.