MANmagazine Turbo 1/2015

man magazine 1/2015
“If you need to
deal with a problem
today, you have
made a mistake
half a year ago.”
Ralf Göppel, Senior Project Manager,
MAN Diesel & Turbo SE
Each of the five engines features 20 cylinders
providing 560 kW/Cyl and renders a
performance of more than 15,000 hp.
Between Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah
Islamic Port on the Red Sea and
the Al-Sadiya Mountains, a desert
area not far from Mecca,
there is little more than sand and a handful of
camels and sheep. Yet in November 2014, five
giant trucks hauling huge monsters of steel
rumbled through the desert – scary black silhouettes
against an ancient golden landscape.
Their cargo was a 130-ton MAN 20V32/
44CR diesel engine for a new cement plant under
construction in the limestone-rich Al-Sadiya
site on behalf of the United Cement Industrial
Company (UCIC), a Jeddah-based Saudi
business established in 2013. MAN Diesel &
Turbo had received an engineering, procurement
and construction (EPC) contract to build
an independent diesel power plant for the
new facility. In its product portfolio, MAN
Diesel & Turbo carries specifically engineered
power plants for remote locations with no access
to electricity grids (island mode) all over
the world. And as these are the only source of
power, technical excellence is essential. Supplied
MAN engines for this project feature
modern common rail technology, an electronically
controlled injection system that controls
fuel consumption and emissions. For the UCIC
project, MAN supplies not only the engines,
but also all ancillary equipment – ranging
from the machine control-room and cooling
systems to the processing and disposal systems
– while the local consortium partner Al
Aman Company is responsible for all civil,
electrical and mechanical construction and installation
work. The project was signed off in
summer 2013, with construction commencing
a year later and final power plant handover to
the customer scheduled for February 2016. The
trailers’ just-in-time arrival at Old Makkha
Road, from where they turned east to the UCIC
site, was a timing triumph for senior project
manager Ralf Göppel and his team at MAN
Diesel & Turbo headquarters in Augsburg. Had
the engines arrived too early, they would have
disrupted work on the project’s ongoing building
phase, while laying the foundations for the
powerhouse, pumphouse, radiator area or tank
farm. Had they arrived too late, the delivery
would have delayed the next stage of construction,
especially installing the auxiliary modules,
steel structure, piping and cabling as well
as the installation of the 35-ton alternators inside
the powerhouse.
Timing the exact arrival is essential in a
project like this,” says Göppel, who always has
to cope with all kinds of eventualities, including
sandstorms, local incidents, late deliveries
or sudden lack of manpower. Delivering all
plant components to the UCIC site is a huge exercise
in logistics. While the Diesel engines
were built in MAN’s Augsburg works, most of
the other equipment was purchased from global
suppliers as far away as India or Finland.
They all must first undertake an almost epic
journey via European North Sea ports, to Jeddah,
and finally move down a sandy gravel
road to the UCIC site. For the first time, engines
of this type were initially put on a train to travel
from Augsburg to Duisburg in Germany for
final assembly, later transported via the Rhine
River to Antwerp in Belgium and then shipped
to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Overall, it took more
than a month to arrive at the plant in the desert.
Saudi Arabia’s cement industry is flourishing,
due to a construction boom caused by demographic
and macroeconomic factors.
Photos: Waleed Bin Talip
The MAN team meets with project
engineers to discuss the last preparations
before the first engine arrives.
50°C
during daytime
Crippling ambient temperatures are just
one of the challenges when working in
the desert. Others are sandstorms and
even flooding episodes.
A growing population and changing family
structures – such as the trend toward smaller
households – are increasing demand for residential
properties and new industrial areas, including
big oil refineries. At the same time, the
government vastly increased infrastructure
spending since 2013, resulting from a great year
for the oil industry in 2012 and an associated
20% surplus in GDP.
This has turned the kingdom into the largest
projects market in the Middle East, according
to the “Saudi Arabia Projects Market 2014”
issued by MEED, a Middle East business intelligence
provider. “Saudi Arabia is a key market
for our power plants division, where we have
gathered decades of experience,” says Howard
Barnes, Senior Vice President and Global Head
of Sales Power Plants. The UCIC power plant will
supply 55 megawatts , facilitating a cement production
capacity of around 5,000 tons per day.
Remote sites are, by nature, difficult to access
and each project presents its own engineering
and logistical challenges. The engines at UCIC
were designed to withstand local conditions,
including temperatures of up to 50°C. Special
pulse filter systems in front of the air-intake
ducts keep sand particles out, using compressed
air to blow air filters free when sensors
register a loss of air-intake pressure, while a
huge system of radiator coolers is designed to
regulate the cooling water systems.
Göppel describes his Saudi-specific challenges
as: “Sandstorms! Ramadan! Heavy
rain!” In spring and summer, the northwesterly
Shamal wind creates sandstorms that can
cut visibility to almost zero. In 2014, such
storms interrupted onsite work almost every
afternoon from June through August. Although
rare, rain is also a problem, as cities
and environs are not equipped with rainwater
drains. Jeddah was completely flooded after
heavy rainfalls back in 2010, with hundreds of
people killed. “When it started to rain in November
2014, the workers panicked and left to
reach their families,” recalls Göppel. Also that
year, Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic
calendar, proceeded during the month of
July, when daytime temperatures reached
50°C in the shade – if there was any shade.
While faithful Muslims may work throughout
this period, they must fast during daylight
hours. Göppel solved the issue by switching
work shifts to night time during the month of
Ramadan. Another aspect slowing down work
schedules are the five required prayer sessions
per day. “We expect less daily progress in Saudi
Arabia than in other countries, which must
be reflected by work schedules,” says Göppel.
For the four weeks of Ramadan, for example,
he calculates a 50% reduction in progress and
even 70% less efficiency during the annual
fortnight Eid and Hajj holidays. A vital factor
is the skilled MAN team of managers and supervisors
on site, who are coordinating and
driving the construction efforts. Some remain
in the desert of Saudi Arabia for a year or even
longer. On average, MAN has between 18 and
22 months to finalize a power plant project,
with significant fines and penalties built into
the contract for late handover to the customer.
“It’s important to quickly identify any real
problems and how to address them,” says Göppel,
who claims that almost nothing can ruffle
him anymore. “When you have a great team
like mine, be it on site or at headquarters, this
is the most exciting job in the world.”
22 23