Sloecentrale
The Sloecentrale is an extremely advanced gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 870 megawatts. This allows two million households to meet their daily energy needs. Thanks to the high reliability and flexibility of the plant, it responds quickly to changing market conditions such as the price of gas, renewable energy sources and network conditions.
The question
In addition to the high reliability and flexibility, Sloecentrale has Safety as its top priority. An important, but specific part of this is fire safety.
Following a recommendation report from the insurer, with the objective of achieving the HPR (High Protected Risk) status, Sloecentrale has started to develop the recommendations on a project basis and to investigate how these improvement projects can be carried out.
One of the recommendations is to optimize fire safety in the event of oil fires.
The solution
Sloecentrale looks to the future with confidence and continues to develop the plant into a maximum safe environment. Minimax Brandbeveiliging B.V. has been appointed to ensure the installation work runs smoothly. Minimax Fire Protection strives for a tailor-made solution for this installation.
Sloecentrale has been advised by various parties to arrive at a suitable solution for this specific location. The UPD advised us to opt for foam extinguishing with an electronic mixing system. Minimax has chosen the products of WB Firepacks. In addition to FM Approved electrically driven foam pumps, WB Firepacks also supplies an FM Approved electronic mixing system (the Electronic Foam Proportioner, EFP).
In dit project is niet zomaar een EFP gebruikt. Voor dit project is gekozen voor een EFP Compack.This means that in addition to the EFP, an electric motor and Fire Lion foam pump are also mounted. In this way, Sloecentrale has two compact Skids.
The challenges
The new foam extinguishing system replaces the existing sprinkler system, and it was a challenge to carry out the project with minimal unavailability of the central and current fire extinguishing systems. For example, a connection was made to the existing fire extinguishing ring pipe, which could only be done during a maintenance stop. In addition, various logic in the software of the fire alarm panels had to be adjusted, making them temporarily unavailable.
In the design phase, preference was given to 1% mixed foam, but for reasons of sustainability and the environment, a fluorine-free foam was sought that can also be used after 2025, when the use of fluorine-containing foam is prohibited. This posed challenges because the mixing percentage of fluorine-free foam is 3%, resulting in a foam tank three times as large. This caused a slight delay, but all parties are happy that the project could be completed with relatively few adjustments.
Despite the various challenges and the highly fluctuating market, the implementation of the project was successful, partly thanks to the excellent cooperation between all parties. Sloecentrale has now achieved HPR status.
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"I will talk to installers and end users to find out together what their needs are in terms of new construction. When we have identified the need, I will advise you on which solution(s) are most suitable!"
Marco Kastelein
