Hekotek has supplied and installed a new pellet-burning boiler house in the Arkhangelsk region within shortest possible time. This is already the sixth project in the range of similar ones successfully realised in the region.
Arkhangelsk region has traditionally been a region dependent on external supplies of fuel for heat and power generation with many small boiler houses operating in smaller settlements on different types of fuel (coal, fuel, heavy oil, and even electricity). Most share of such boiler houses have long ago exhausted their service life. At the same time Arkhangelsk region is a forest area with long traditions of sawmilling and woodworking, and thus became among the first in Russia to not only develop pellet production but also using pellets locally as fuel for boiler houses specially designed for pellet burning.
Thus, starting from 2010, several small pellet boiler houses have been constructed in some suburban areas of Arkhangelsk, where the local population now enjoy the benefits of uninterrupted heating, even under most severe winter frosts.
Quite recently one more similar boiler house has been constructed in the area – its main but important dissimilarity from the previously realised projects is that the construction was initiated by the governmental authorities – Administration of the Arkhangelsk region.
Well-thought decision never comes quickly
The first negotiations with the boiler house supplier – Hekotek AS (Estonia) – were held quite a while ago – about one and a half year prior to delivery contract signing. However, the reason had no relevance to bureaucracy; on the contrary, it lies in the thorough approach of the customer to the situation.
The basic rule is as follows: fuel (pellets) production capacity should always exceed their consumption. With only one large pellet producer operating close-by in the region (which is mostly oriented to pellet export and their supply to the existing boiler houses), it was quite challenging to take a decision on construction of a new boiler house. Delivering pellets from more remote areas was also unpractical. The new pellet plant launched at Arkhangelsk LDK 3 (RusForest) has ensured uninterrupted supply of pellet fuel to other (new) boiler houses. Thus, appearance of the new pellet supplier not only provides customer’s confidence in fuel supply, but also, not least, creates competitive prices.
Proper result
About 6 months have passed since signing the contract on boiler house delivery (September 2013). Within this period Hekotek not only constructed the full complex of equipment for the new boiler house, but also successfully delivered and installed it at one of the facilities belonging to the regional administration located at 60 km distance from Arkhangelsk. The new boiler house (that will replace the old electrical installation) is equipped with 2 independent boilers (0.5 MW each) that can operate simultaneously depending on the load. Installation supervision of the mechanical part was completed by the end of December, with the first circuit started up February 04, 2014.
Terms for this project realisation were pretty short, comments Olga Sizemova, Managing Director of Sorb Ltd., Hekotek subsidiary in Russia. – That is why the work was simultaneously organised on 3 directions – construction, delivery and installation. The equipment was delivered in three stages. First we delivered silos and infeed system, with installation works being started immediately upon delivery. The second stage included delivery of the boiler house and the third – boilers and other equipment delivered at assembling site as transport modules.
Only advantages
Module structure is a significant advantage of Hekotek boiler houses that allows performing quick launch of equipment on site. Besides, it is an additional guarantee that equipment complex will operate effectively and safely – without any internal conflicts and defects.
The normal practice at Hekotek is the following: before the delivery any boiler house gets completely assembled and started up at Hekotek’s construction site with all the defects being removed. Then the boiler house is dismantled into modules as large as possible for further transportation.
It is worth mentioning that switching from one boiler house to another is performed in winter time, which implies huge responsibility for all project participants under severe climate conditions of the installation area. Beside high quality of the equipment installed, this work requires high qualification of mounters and automation staff as well as thorough performance of any work as there is no place for mistakes.
For the general good
Easy-to-operate, fully automated, handy, environmentally-friendly – that is the image of a new and up-to-date boiler house. Similar to the boiler houses, which Hekotek previously delivered to the Arkhangelsk region, the newly launched boiler house meets all these requirements. It is possible to control it via Internet, including fuel delivery: operators easily control pellet remains and therefore can plan the next delivery in time.
It is a great privilege for us to get such trust from the Russian state authorities, and we manage to justify the confidence reposed in us, – comments Heiki Einpaul, Managing Director of Hekotek. – We hope that successful realisation of this project allows those who still are in doubt to see and estimate real advantages not only of pellet production for export, but also of using pellets in Russia for the good of local people.
12.02.2014
