July 7 - ALE has transported and installed four engines and four alternators at Sirakoro power plant in Bamako, Mali.
ALE received the engines at the Port of Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, and transported the cargoes to the power plant, located 1,300 km away in Bamako.
Once the engines arrived at the plant, ALE placed transport beams under the engines using a fixed gantry as jacking points.
One of the engines was installed by jacking it down in two stages, while two engines were installed with a fixed gantry, and the heaviest engine, weighing 153 tonnes, was jacked-down and installed together with its alternator.
The remaining alternators, which had weights of 56 tonnes and 45 tonnes, were discharged by a telescopic crane.
For the three-month project, which was part of the Sirakoro power plant expansion to increase its electrical power capacity, ALE utilised 60-tonne capacity jacking equipment and SS150 skidding equipment.
According to ALE, the plant is expected to start operations in the new site area at the beginning of 2018.
In a separate project, ALE replaced four heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units, which weighed between 9 tonnes and 12 tonnes, at a nuclear power plant in Tarragona, Spain.
According to ALE, due to the limited space in the room the best solution for the extraction and installation of the HVAC units was to use rotating trolleys.
ALE jacked-up the old units and extracted them using the trolleys before skidding them outside of the room.
To install the new units, ALE followed the same sequence in reverse, at certain points manoeuvring in the room with 20 mm clearance between the equipment.
