Fire control centres provide an important service, co-ordinating regional fire services in emergency situations. But what would happen in the event of a major supply failure? Not a problem, thanks to Schneider Electric.

Schneider Electric Projects & Services is providing turnkey electrical installations, with a contract value close to 拢1 million each, for fire control centres around the UK. The company is working closely with contractor N G Bailey.

Designed to ensure continuity of operation, even in the event of a major supply failure, the installations include MV and LV switchgear, along with a sophisticated monitoring and control system that provides automatic load shedding.

The first installation, in Durham, is approaching completion and a second in Wolverhampton is at an advanced stage. Work is about to start on the third, which will be in Wakefield. In each case, the equipment supplied and its configuration is identical. In addition to an incoming MV mains supply, the sites have a complex configuration of uninterruptible power supplies and two 950kVA standby generators. The key function of the installation is to allow best possible use to be made of available electricity supplies so as to maintain the operation of each centre鈥檚 essential equipment. Other requirements were that the equipment should be as compact as possible and that some items of LV switchgear should be suitable for outdoor mounting.

Schneider Electric chose a self-contained Merlin Gerin Ringmaster CN2 MV switchboard to handle the main incoming 11 kV supply from the public electricity network.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor