Cummins generators assist in cyclone-hit Old
A fleet of mobile Cummins was deployed by Energex in March to help restore power to areas of north Queensland following the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Larry.
The cyclone left a trail of ruin, its gusts of up to 290 km/h causing damage estimated at $1bn.
The emergency response generators were used to power critical infrastructure – sewerage and water plants, hospitals, and shopping centres – until mains supplies were resumed.
Cummins Cairns rushed a team of field service technicians to the disaster area to provide 24/7 support for the generators.
Energex, which provides electricity in south-east Queensland to over 1.2 million customers, recently took delivery of the Cummins generators to help ensure quality and reliability of supply during emergencies and planned maintenance and repairs to the network.
Cummins generators are also designed to be rapidly deployed to problem spots in the network in hot weather, providing power to the grid when high peak demand occurs.
Brisbane-based Generator Hire Service designed, packaged and commissioned the mobile generators for Energex, which took delivery of 32 units through 2005 and early 2006. It is a large fleet of mobile generator sets employed by an electricity provider in Australia.
Generator Hire Service, a business started in 1988, rolled out the 32 gensets in only 12 months, having designed and produced the first unit within six weeks of the start of discussions with Energex.
Generator Hire Service would not have completed the project on time without the support of Cummins in Brisbane.
Generator Hire Service has worked closely with Cummins on a number of occasions, providing emergency response generators and power generation solutions to various market segments.
Each Energex genset is fully bunded and has a 1,800-litre fuel capacity to provide at least 20 hours of continuous operation.
Satellite tracking is also incorporated to allow Energex to plot the movement of each of the 32 gensets and have remote start/ stop control of the machines.
Many of the gensets are 500 kVA units powered by Cummins’ advanced 15-litre QSX15 which incorporates a full-authority electronic fuel and engine management system for improved operating efficiency and also compliance with stringent US emission standards.
According to Cummins, the full-authority electronic controls of the QSX15 allowed easy integration of the engine with the genset control systems.
The full-authority electronics were also a major benefit in terms of paralleling capability.
3-Jul-2007