Pembroke: a safer place four years on
15 Jan 2000
In the aftermath of the 1994 fire and explosion at Texaco's refinery in Pembroke, South Wales (see main references) vital instrumentation and process control equipment is to benefit from a £3.8million upgrade involving uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems from Siemens, writes Mike Spear.
Seven processing areas on the site will each use the Masterguard UPS systems to ensure continuous power to monitoring, control and shutdown instrumentation of the plant.
Siemens (enter 241 on enquiry card) is the prime contractor, supplying the UPS and responsible for project management of the manufacture, assembly and testing of the seven housings.
Due for commissioning in July this year, the systems will replace the existing arrangements as part of the refinery's regular review and upgrade of system protection facilities. One of the key features of the UPS systems is the ability to perform battery load tests on-line without affecting the load.
cording to Siemens, reliability of the batteries is regarded by Texaco as a prerequisite of any system. Other points in favour of its systems, says Siemens, include the fact that they do not need electric cooling fans, and their use of proven technology in their dual redundant features.
