US $4.3m sound reduction enclosures for Praslin power station |12 April 2018

An illustration of how the sound reduction enclosures will look like when work is completed

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) has signed a contract with UAE-based ACE Cranes & Engineering worth some US $4.3 million to refurbish the Baie Ste Anne Praslin power station, cladding it in sound reduction enclosures to reduce noise and exhaust emissions.

The chief executive of the PUC, Philip Morin, and the general manager of ACE Cranes & Engineering, Prasanna R. Udupi, signed the contract for the project at Electricity House yesterday afternoon.

This was in the presence of the chairperson of the PUC board, Eddie Belle, other officials of the contracting firm and PUC officials.

The PUC is funding the cost of the project.

The contractor has already sent a technical design team to visit the station to take measurements to design the structure before bringing them back to be assembled on site.

The process is to be carried out during the coming three to four months and the whole project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Mr Morin has called on the residents concerned to show patience and understanding while the work is underway.

It is not expected that power distribution will be affected during the period that work will be carried out. 

Speaking after the signing Mr Morin told Mr Udupi that the project is an important one for the residents concerned and that the PUC is under considerable pressure to improve the environmental performance of the power plant. 

“We believe you have the credentials to deliver considering your vast experience and we look forward for a timely delivery of the project,” Mr Morin told the contractor.

After giving a short overview of their expertise and experience in cranes, heavy machinery building and fabrication of and installation of soundproof/acoustic and other noise reducing enclosures and exhaust systems, Mr Udupi assured Mr Morin of a project of high standard.

“We won’t let you down,” he stressed.

For a long time residents in the vicinity of the power station have been   complaining that the noise and emission from the station has become unbearable and recently pressure mounted on the PUC to address the situation.

The PUC went on open international tender to get a contractor for the refurbishment project. Expression of interest and bidding documents were forwarded to six companies with relevant expertise in noise reduction systems but only three expressed their interest in submitting tender as per the PUC’s technical  specifications. Only two bids were submitted to the National Tender Board (NTB) -- namely from Wartsila and ACE Cranes & Engineering from the United Arab Emirates.

Following evaluation of the technical and financial proposals, the NTB gave its approval to award the contract to ACE Cranes & Engineering at the cost of US $4.3 million.

“This the most competitive offer,” Mr Morin said.

The Baie Ste Anne power station was commissioned in 1980 in an area perceived as being earmarked primarily for light industrial developments. At that time, there was only the old hospital building situated some 200m away and a few houses located on the south west side of the station compound.

In the last 37 years, the number of houses that have been built in the vicinity of the power station has increased considerably and a new hospital has also been built nearer to the station. Simultaneously the demand for electricity has been increasing especially from 1986 when La Digue was also connected to the Praslin grid, compelling the PUC to expand the station’s capacity from its original 2.7 MW to 13 MW presently. This corresponds to an increase of seven diesel generator sets.

As the number of houses close to the power station becomes untenable, the original intention was to relocate the station to a more appropriate site. However it has been difficult to find a site that is sufficiently remote from residential areas but conductive to connectivity to the rest of the power system network.

The government in the end decided to maintain the station at its present location provided its environmental performance is improved and this includes reducing its noise and exhaust emissions.