Overview
Expanding to take on a number of new departments and buildings, the University of East Anglia turned to Shenton Group to provide three backup generators whilst electricity provider, EDF, shut down power to allow for High Voltage upgrade work.
Problem
Located two miles outside of Norwich city centre within 320 acres of parkland, the University of East Anglia has expanded rapidly over the past few years and now has in excess of 13,000 students, 2,200 staff and a choice of nearly 300 courses.
It is home to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, as well as a multi-million-pound Sports park, and more recently it has introduced a new School of Medicine, Health Policy, and Practice. Therefore, the university needed to upgrade it’s electricity supply to facilitate these and other new buildings under construction.
In order to carry out the vital electricity upgrades, Electricity de France (EDF) scheduled a shutdown of campus power over a weekend to undertake the High Voltage (HV) work. Looking for a means of maintaining essential services on the campus during this work, the University turned to Shenton Group to provide an integrated power package that would include all equipment and plant to provide standby power throughout the University.
They remained on site during the three day period to ensure that everything went smoothly.
Steve Edwards
Solution
Steve Edwards, Electrical Design Engineer at the University of East Anglia, explains why Shenton Group beat off a number of its competition to win the work: “We selected Shenton Group Power Management as it was the only company that was able to provide a total package”.
The package initially included Shenton Group providing three 1250kVA packaged generators which were synchronised together to form one power solution, rated at 3,750kVA. The low voltage power from this system was then put through a step-up transformer to convert it to 11kV and then connected into the university’s primary power sub-station.
In addition, Shenton Group also installed a separate 500kVA generator to run the university’s sports hall which houses a swimming pool, fitness centre and human performance laboratory.
Shenton Group’s Technical Director, Derek Barry, detailed Shenton Group’s management approach to the project: “Shenton Group meticulously project-managed the complete installation, and in addition to the generators and transformers, we also supplied cabling, essential HV protective matting, barriers, and also fuel supplies including; bulk tanks and refuelling service”.
Outcomes
Whilst EDF undertook their major upgrade work throughout the campus, the University of East Anglia enjoyed continuous power throughout, with the assurance that Shenton Group staff were onsite throughout the three days.