Industrial Attachment 2

After a pre-mature exit from KenGen Ol-Karia Geothermal, I landed myself at Power Technics Limited - Mombasa Road (Kenya).

I have always wanted to be here and so am going to make the most out of this opportunity.

Power Technics was established in 1982 to integrate its core activities know-how and experience into superior quality products.

Power Technics delivers a full project package, from design implementation to after sales service. With a dedicated staff of over 200 people, Power technics has enjoyed sustained growth and success. Whatever the projects - large office complexes, steel industries, cement industries, plastic industries, national street lighting schemes - Power technics provides an integrated solution with its core activity of electrical engineering technology, superior sheet metal engineering technology, automation and systems.

My period in this company is to last 8weeks+ and I am most overjoyed to be in this wonderful place.
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Industrial Attachment : KenGen Olkaria Geothermal Power Station

As part of my training I am supposed to attend practical hours at a company of my choice for approximately 100days.During this time I should be exposed to market quality machines and put into practical what I’ve been learning through.
Welcome to Industrial Attachment Series of posts.
After successful I landed in KenGen Olkaria Geothermal Power Station. Being the only in Africa, I feel privileged being here and brushing shoulders with great engineers in this place.

The Power Station
The Olkaria Geothermal Power Station is managed by KenGen, a Government Parastatal which is responsible for all state power stations. This unique power station is located on the floor of The Great Rift Valley near Lake Naivasha. The chief main source of energy is high pressure stream from the ground which is used to drive turbines to produce electricity. There are currently 3 power stations in this field ie Olkaria 1 (KenGen), Olkaria 2 (KenGen), Olkaria 3 (Orpower IPP)
A combined 105MW is derived from the field. Future expansions are underway to increase the output to 200MW harnessing the full potential of Geothermal Power. The Olkaria geothermal field spans a great area and it is located within the Hell’s Gate National Park, approximately 120km from the Capital Nairobi.

Maker Faire Africa 2010 - UoN

On Friday 27th and Saturday 28th the University of Nairobi played host to a very wonderful event that brought innovative makers together to showcase their works and share ideas.I happened to go to the climax event on Saturday and I was amazed at the creativity of young minds bound to change this world as we know it in a night.The Make Faire event has been running for some time and has provided young makers a launchpad for taking their wonderful creations to a whole new level.
As i made my way though the exhibitions, I made a few stops to ask questions and take a few pictures at the creations.

Specifically, Maker Faire Africa focuses on the following:

----Brighten the light on local examples of the “fabrication” ethos

----Provide mechanisms to incubate these innovators and their products to a point where they can be taken to market

----Connect refined plans to disseminate innovations with...

Kenyan Cabinet approves a 421MW Power Generation Programme

The power shortage in Kenya is set to ease following Tuesday’s move by the Cabinet to approve a major generation programme.

Under the New Planned Power Generation Capacity Programme, six power projects are to be initiated this year.They include:

21MW Songoro Hydropower Project.
10MW Tana Hydropower Project.
5MW Ngong Windpower Project.
80MW Early Geothermal Power Project.
25MW Kindaruma Upgrade.
280MW Olkaria 1 and Olkaria 4.

 “In this regard Cabinet forwards for parliamentary approval the establishment of an escrow guarantee fund for semi-concessional loans for external borrowing by KenGen and Kenya Electricity Transmission Company from EIB and KFW to finance the additional power generation of 421 megawatts,” a statement issued by the Presidential Press Service said.

Community Power Centers (CPC) : UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in partnership with other stakeholders has been working on a project of lighting up Kenya using electricity generated from renewable sources. The energy generated is taken to a village power center that acts as a community development center.Once electricity is at the center, it is used for different applications. Presently, unto 2Billion people lack access to modern energy mainly those living in of-grid areas.

The Community Power Centers Project
The community power project is a source of energy powered by zero-emission hybrid renewable energy sources such as:
 Micro-hydro, Mini-hydro
 Bio-gas

The Xiangjiaba - Shanghai ±800kV UHVDC Transmission Line Project

Recent developments in High Voltage transmission and distribution systems have shown a gradual increase in DC transmission systems at very high voltage levels. High Voltage Direct Current (H.V D.C) has become common in developed countries due to reduced costs at high voltages as compared to Alternating Current (A.C) transmission. It is because of such reasons that the recently completed Xiangjiaba-Shanghai 800kV UHVDC transmission line was built.

Exceptional Achievement: S.A FIFA World Cup 2010

Never on Earth have we had such a FIFA World Cup like the one hosted be South Africa 2010.On behalf of the 3phasepower community, I would like to express my satisfaction to the FIFA Organaising Management and the Engineers respomsible for Lighting and Power Systems during the event.Kudos also goes to every other person involved on staging such a magnificent event:Architects, Civil Engineers, Support Staff e.t.c.
The Power Engineers at Eskom also provided us with perfect power free of surges and harmonics for each game throught the tournament.For the excellent lighting, GIBB deserve all the credit.The lighting at the Capetown Stadium was splendid.
Well, since this wc is over,we now focus on Brazil for another spectacular event 4 years into the future.
TO ALL WHO MADE THIS A SUCCESSFUL EVENT, i take my hat off.    KUDOS

Stadium Power Supplies - FIFA World Cup 2010

Given the national and international exposure that each stadium in the FIFA World Cup 2010 receives, it is imperative that all efforts are made to ensure that electrical power supply in the venues is as reliable as possible. In this post according to “22nd AMEU Technical Convention110 AMEU Proceedings 2009 Stadium electricity supplies – an assessment of the specification and readiness” document I have outlined the various power aspects involved in Stadium Power Supplies.





The stadia and surrounding areas are fundamentally broken down into three
Main focus areas include:
1. Domestic/stadium power (stadium itself)
2. Technical Power (Media & Broadcasting)
3. Overlay or precinct (area immediately surround the stadium including ticketing offices, hospitality, Accreditation etc)

Green Point Stadium: Illumination

“It is practically impossible to switch on 360 floodlights, each producing 215 000 lumens of light, without people noticing. But apart from the inevitable complaints from some local residents, there was an overwhelmingly positive response to this important development” GIBB-A multidisciplinary engineering firm in  charge of the lighting of the Green Point Stadium.
Welcome to the Green Point Stadium locally known as the Cape Town stadium. With a seating capacity of 68000 fans, it stands as a marvelous work of engineering. As you approach the stadium one thing that most people can’t help noticing is the wonderful lighting system, whether at night in the reflection of the sun in the luminaries during the day. The illumination at the Cape Town stadium has been engineered to meet all FIFA standards, but with lamps ranging from 1kW to 3kW, these presents a nasty heavy load to the transformers feeding them and it is because of this that FIFA requires floodlighting be powered by uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in South Africa and so a rotary UPS, engineered by BKS, was installed to fulfill this function.

Kenya Power & Lighting Company Limited - Logo Design Competition

The Kenya Power & Lighting is inviting all Kenyans to participate in designing of a new logo.

THE BRIEF
Come up with a modern, customer friendly logo design inspired by our new Vision, Mission and Values statements below:

Vision
To provide world class power that delights our customers 
Mission
Powering people for better lives. 
Values
Customer First, One Team, Passion, Integrity, Excellence.
The details are as follows...