• INDUSTRY INNOVATOR The South Africa-based Zest WEG Group is drawing on its wide range of in-house technology and products to design and supply a complete turnkey diesel power generation facility for Syrah Resources’ Balama graphite project in northern Mozambique. T he substantial Balama plant – measuring 185 m long and 54 m wide – is the largest single- footprint power plant tackled by subsidiary Zest Energy, and is expected to begin a gradual ramp-up of power production from the first quarter of 2017. Given its remote location some 260 km west of the port town of Pemba, the Balama project will use the uninterrupted power produced by the continuous generation facility to cater for the full plant demand, according to Alastair Gerrard, MD of Zest Energy. “While the mine will have access to power from the national grid, it was essential that the equipment selected for the power plant would provide high levels of power supply reliability and availability, while also requiring as little manual operation and maintenance as possible,” says Gerrard The Zest WEG Group, a subsidiary of WEG Brazil, is well known for its large range of WEG electric motors, switchgear and variable speed drives. The group also supplies motor control centres, generator sets and integrated energy solutions, and has three fully fledged manufacturing facilities in South Africa. “The design took into account the high availability requirements by incorporating an ‘N+1’ format into the plant,” Gerrard says. “In terms of the current scope of supply, the plant will begin approximate production of 12.5 MW with seven 2 200 kW diesel generators – six of which will run continuously while one will be on standby to allow for maintenance and repairs.” In-house solutions “To monitor and control the plant, Zest WEG Group company, Shaw Controls, designed and manufactured an E-House, with a medium voltage switchboard 12 MINING REVIEW AFRICA | The custom engineered diesel generator set solution for Syrah Resources’ Balama graphite project Diesel engines fitted to the engineered generator base frames incorporating a control system to synchronise and monitor the engines,” Gerrard says. “The E-House also includes a control room, complete with an overall power plant control system with built in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) functionality – giving the plant operator full control from a central point.” To feed the generators, the client will provide a bulk fuel storage system to which Zest WEG Group will link its own 30 000 litre intermediate fuel tank – with a fuel duplex filtration and circulation system as well as all interconnecting piping, valves, pumps and fittings within the power plant area. David Claassen, executive Integrated Solution Centre at Zest WEG Group, says all main aspects of the project – from the generator sets to the E-House and the FEBRUARY 2017 plant auxiliary electrical equipment – are sourced and produced in-house. “The benefit for our client is that they have a single point of contact with us; and we have the necessary control over the design and manufacture to ensure the quality and suitability to client requirements,” says Claassen. “Providing these kinds of solutions limiting the need for third party contractors also makes us cost competitive, as there are various shared resources within the group through which we leverage value.” Dealing with conductive dust In addition to the remoteness of the site, Balama posed a particular challenge on the electrical front – highly conductive graphite dust. “Not only is the dust generated