A Caterpillar containerized generator set is
offloaded in Ghana.
Logistic Challenge to Deliver
Power Plant to Ghana
In February of this year Ring Power,
a St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.A.-based
Caterpillar distributor, signed a contract to supply one of the largest single
export orders ever received in the history of the company. The order, placed
by the Ministry of Energy in Ghana,
consisted of supplying and installing a
diesel power plant in Tema, located
approximately 32 km east of Ghana’s
capital, Accra.
The new project was a huge logistical
challenge. Due to the urgency of the
order, the equipment had to be airlifted
from the U.S. to Ghana. An Antonov
An-124 Condor was contracted to
carry the cube containers. The Condor
boasts a maximum take-off weight of
392 000 kg. Flying all of the equipment, almost 2. 27 million kg — and
doing it within such a short period of
time — has been a project of unparalleled magnitude for Ring Power and
the managers in charge of the deal.
“We signed cargo contracts to fly 19
times between Jacksonville International
Airport and Accra. It’s a multimillion-dollar undertaking and a very complex
project. We had four aircraft in constant
rotation. The first 13 flights were completed by mid-March,” said Michael
Turwitt, Ring Power’s international sales
and export manager.
The overall concept of this power
plant comprises 54 Caterpillar diesel
power modules all operating synchronized and paralleling with the national
electricity grid. A central control station, electrical step-up transformers,
and additional fuel tanks were all supplied by Ring Power.
A team of Ring Power technicians and
field engineers were also flown to Ghana
for installation of the power plant.
Commissioning for the first 50 MW
stage was completed on April 5 and the
second phase of additional 20 MW was
expected to be running in May.
Frank Smith, assistant vice president
used equipment at Ring Power commented, “Our export market share is
increasing as expected. This project is a
further strengthening of Ring Power’s
leading position in this market segment.
The international market is a key for
future growth rates, and our success in
Africa is the result of many years’ hard
work and intensive market development. During the past 12 months we
supplied top-quality used equipment to
various other markets in Africa, like
Mali, Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania and South Africa, just
to name a few.”
With this important project in Ghana,
and other developments in the pipeline,
Ring Power is in the process of establishing a strong position on the African continent. Six years ago the Power Systems
Division systematically started to develop professional export and international
market development activities. During
the first two years a strong focus was on
establishing direct sales channels in
Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia,
Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa.
This was done in addition to existing
Latin American sales activities.
“Our international opportunities are
huge, and the hard work started to produce excellent results. In only a couple
of years we increased our global sales to
a multimillion-dollar business,” said
Turwitt. A
SEE DIRECTLINK @
WWW.DIESELGASTURBINE.COM
The first 50 MW installation of Caterpillar gen-sets supplied by Ring Power for what will become a 70 MW power station outside of the capitol of Ghana.
