International Lesson and lesson to avoid similar incidents in the future in the design of plants of soft energy Of particular attention and interest is the fire incident that occurred at the Al Shaqaya renewable energy plant, which is undoubtedly a technical disaster for all lovers of renewable energy projects. The matter is still under investigation and they will investigate the causes of the fire, whether it was technical, due to poor operation and maintenance, or administrative in terms of employee training, project management and contracts.
Many believe that the first phase of Shaqaya promotes Independent Producer, Investor, IPP type projects, and this is not true.
The project is an EPC, with six years of operation and maintenance, and the size of the project is 70 megawatts distributed across three main technologies, 10 megawatts of photovoltaic energy, 10 megawatts of wind energy and 50 megawatts of solar thermal energy, in which it appears that the fire broke out from the thermal facilities, especially since the flames were covered in black smoke, which enhances the combustion of the chemicals.
There is no doubt that there are reasonable questions for all investigators of this case, including: - Did the project have alarm and fire extinguishing systems? - Are there cameras distributed throughout the facilities that provide comprehensive monitoring and management.
- The maintenance and warranty contracts are valid and preserve the rights of the State of Kuwait, especially since some technologies were in operation between 2017 and 2018 and the official inauguration was in February 2019.
The investigation committees and higher authorities will evaluate the project from its inception and the extent to which it has achieved its objectives, the most important of which was to provide job opportunities for trained national executives, as well as to identify technologies and create a legislative and technical infrastructure that establishes general and specific specifications from which state institutions benefit.
There is no doubt that this incident, despite its seriousness, did not result in any human losses. There will be a different design in front of international companies competing to implement future government projects, especially the remaining stages of the approximately 4,000 megawatt Shaqaya, which will inevitably be different in terms of the involvement of the implementer in the responsibility through a public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
Free translation from - original post Salem Alajmi Former Consultant to the H.E. Minister of MEW, CEO of Sustainability Institute and Sustainable Solutions Co. for Consultancy, and Renewable Energy Certified Expert by European Energy Center
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