Case: Telecom and Gas Pipeline in China
Project Title:
Large stand-alone solar systems for gas pipeline, telecommunication and cathodic protection systems.
Client: Petro China, China
Naps Contact: Sebastian Johansen
Financed By: Petro China
Completion Date: May 2001
Objectives:
- To supply energy for the pipeline monitoring and control system in order to secure safety
- To enable high availability for the pipeline
- To supply power without maintenance and fuel supply
- To prolong the lifetime of the pipeline by protecting it from corrosion
- To implement the most competitive solution commercially
Implementation:
Initial supply and installation of 14 solar electric systems along a 500km gas pipeline. Naps made the system design and sizing; each site has a specially designed control unit for professional use. Each system provides 200-300 watts continuous power for the cathodic protection and telecommunications equipment and gives a six days autonomy time in case of emergency.
Site Specific Issues:
The sites along the pipeline are located in uninhabited rural areas, some up to about 3000 km above sea level, where the temperatures can occasionally drop below zero. The investment costs for grid power would have been about 10.000 USD/km as most of these sites are more than 10km from the nearest grid point. The total investment in solar electricity was significantly lower.
A team of four trained local men mounted the system in a week. Naps site supervisor made the start-up and final check. A local service team makes maintenance visit the sites once a year. The maintenance typically takes 1-2 hours per site.
Equipment and Technical Specifications:
- Totally 14 sites, an average system consists of
40-80 of Naps 50-watt modules
- System management by custom-made NSCi control unit with local language user interface
- Battery bank 3000-6000Ah
- Module structures, panel centres, cables, battery main fuse and accessories
Conclusions:
The project was successful showing the technical and economic viability of using solar electricity in China. Compared to the other power sources solar electric systems have proven significantly more economic thanks to the long life-time and zero operational costs. The end user was especially happy with the 10 weeks implementation time, which was highly important as the project had an extremely short construction time schedule. The owner was particularly pleased with the smooth implementation and reliability of the power system that completely satisfies their requirements. Further sites for solar electric systems in the fields of pipeline projects have been developed. The customer has placed several orders for similar applications since 1996.
| 
