Condition Assessment in Russia
Submitted by Igor Korik, Mechanical Engineer
A large American company is investigating the feasibility of developing a very sizable industrial facility in a Northern region of Russia. In February of 2004, Waldron Engineering was contracted to assist a Virginia based firm with the project's due diligence effort which includes validating that the local utility grid can support the needs of the proposed facility. As such, an engineering team was assembled to conduct onsite visits to several generating stations that supply electricity to the region's utility grid. The objective of the site visits was to assess the physical condition of the major power generating facilities. The plants are located throughout the entire region, spanning nearly 1,500 kilometers. Weather conditions in the region can be arduous and available transportation is often limited and sparse, especially in the northernmost stretch of the journey where the team crossed the Artic Circle. WEI completed a detailed assessment to delineate the work that would be required to ensure that the region's power generation and transmission infrastructure would be able to properly and reliably support the future project.