Courtesy photo | Afghan and USACE engineers and electricians clean, repair and maintain the 110kv main power supply…Read moreRead more
Courtesy photo | Afghan and USACE engineers and electricians clean, repair and maintain the 110kv main disconnect switch assembly of the Sankin Substation in Helmand Province. This work enables the team to work safely on the power distribution system. Rare | View image page
Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan-Residents, businesses, and industries in Helmand and Kandahar provinces now have more stable and reliable electricity, thanks to a team of power experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and from the state-owned power company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat Afghan counterparts. Task Force Breshna Barq, a group of American soldiers tasked to provide electricity to the country in Afghanistan, and Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat installed a new power supply in a substation north of Sankin in Helmand Province in March Switch center and feeder. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Black, Deputy Commander of Task Force Breshna Barq, Staff Sergeant. Scott Michael and Staff Sergeant. Benjamin Talbert (Benjamin Talbert) is all from the 249th Main Power Battalion and is assigned to the southern part of the Afghan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He works with engineers and technicians from utility companies to improve and preventively improve the Sangjin Substation maintain. “Because the Sangin Substation has caused so many blackouts in most of southern Afghanistan, DABS asked the Engineering Corps to help make relatively inexpensive and small improvements to the substation. These improvements are expected to improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of the electricity currently flowing through the Sangin Substation. Sex has a huge impact,” said Jim Murray, the project manager. “The Sangjin substation has all the original equipment,” said Murray, who was deployed from Detroit. “The substation was built decades ago, so the equipment has worn out and needs to be replaced, and it may be dangerous just because of its age.” Kuroko agreed. “It is necessary to re-erect or erect the lines to reduce phase-to-phase faults and phase-to-ground faults mainly caused by weather, and to replace the power switch center to minimize power distribution interruptions.” The Afghanistan project leader engineer Rasoul estimates, Sang Up to 90% of the failures in the gold substation will cause major problems for each substation connected to the grid. (Note: In Afghanistan, an engineer is a respectable name, just like a “doctor.”) “When a small failure occurs in Sankin, the entire system-Helmand and Kandahar-will be disrupted,” Rasul said . “We continue to operate the Kajaki Power Station with its maximum load capacity of approximately 32 MW. There are multiple power outages a day, which has a serious impact on the industries of the two provinces.” The engineer cooperated with the staff of the Stability Operations Office (C9) of the Southwest Regional Command to organize Their transportation as well as the transportation of equipment and parts. The C9 Development Program team supports civil and military organizations that perform tasks to improve the lives of Afghans. “Through USACE, we support their work with DABS, not only to deliver the project, but also to guide DABS electricians,” said the newly appointed Royal Air Force Wing Commander. Mark Collins, C9 Development Program Director. “If we can release opportunities, pass information smoothly or actively assist in making things happen, then we have achieved our goals.” Collins said that C9′s goals include supporting the relationship between rural farmers and their urban consumers and building the Afghan government. Ability to support strategic infrastructure projects. “Each of these goals relies on electricity to some extent,” Collins said. And, “The teamwork required to provide personnel and components for this project cannot be overestimated. Wing Commander, my predecessor Charlie Allen, and I worked closely with Chief Warrant Officer 5 Black, the USACE team, and DABS engineers to achieve this goal. “Collins and Allen both work at the Royal Air Force Headquarters in High Wycombe, United Kingdom. The USACE team arrived at the patrol base on February 27 and completed the Sankin immediate repair project on March 19. The group met with Lieutenant Josh Chambers-Snowdy, the commander of the patrol base, who was the 2nd platoon commander and platoon sergeant, staff sergeant of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Corps. Black said that Derek Linniman not only made their stay at the very simple patrol base very comfortable. “They played an important role in the movement and coordination of our materials.” The next day, the team met with Afghan counterparts to discuss the project schedule and details. Rasoul said that like most projects in Afghanistan, this improvement project faces logistical and security challenges that must be overcome. “Safety in Helmand has always been an issue,” he said. “Our transmission lines are always at risk of being damaged and affecting power transmission. We have to repair damaged components, transformers and cables, and Sangin is especially vulnerable to damage.” “There is no hardware store where we can get supplies,” Black added . “We have to bring everything we think we need. Before the real work begins, we use other tool parts to make tools, use old, rusty steel to make and weld the power center frame, and repair welding equipment.” DABS Engineers played a leading role in most of the work, and they were able to buy some needed items in Sanjin or visit the items in the DABS warehouse in Kandahar. “We have DABS engineers working with us to make the project progress faster because they can do things that the people who purchase us can’t,” Black said. “Not only did we install a power supply center and related frames, connectors, trenching and wiring in the substation, we also installed the new Sanjin City and Sarankara feeder connections and infrastructure in the substation compound,” Black said. The team ensures that the new power lines meet clearance requirements, ensure safe operation and reduce nuisance failures. As part of the project, the team replaced or added air switch terminals, disconnect elbows, load disconnect adapters, corner pole transition arrays, lightning arresters and other power line components. They also tightened or reconfigured power lines to reduce phase-to-phase and ground faults and stress on cables. “DABS has left a deep impression on me during the entire mission,” said Talbot from Kalihi, Hawaii. “At first I was a little worried that they did not have the technical knowledge or motivation to complete the scope of the project. However, from the beginning, they not only showed the motivation to complete the task, but also showed a resourceful and innovative way to conquer each individual Mission. The Afghans use materials that may be considered by the Americans to be waste or junk to make switchgear and power control station frames.” Talbert also said that teaching their Afghan team members to work in accordance with acceptable codes is very Good experience. “I believe they have learned a lot from us and will use this knowledge for the rest of the overhead power distribution.” “When we completed this project, we had learned a lot about being resourceful, using existing resources and adapting them. The knowledge of our needs,” Black said. “Sometimes, you only need to use what you have, because this is what you have. Our Afghan teammates showed us how much you can achieve with very few things.” said Rasoul, who has been a DABS engineer for 35 years. He worked with electrical engineers in Afghanistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Germany, China, and the United States in 1988, but his relationship with Black was very special. “For me, Chief Thomas Black is my brother. I trust him and learn a lot from him.” Heizi agreed. “I think I learned more from Eng. Rasoul has more than I taught him. The time I spent with DABS engineers and technicians taught me that as long as I have flexibility, originality and creativity, almost Anything can be done. Ying. Rasul has repeatedly impressed me by solving seemingly unsolvable problems. Afghanistan is fortunate to have engineers like him.” Larger project Entire Southeast Power System-Helmand Project This is a key phase of the United States Agency for International Development, USACE, and Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat joint power project. The installation of the power exchange center is the first step to achieve a more reliable and consistent power supply to the people in southern Afghanistan. “Even before we awarded the major contract for the larger SEPS project, we had to perform some repairs on the substation immediately,” said Jim Murray, Southeast Power System Project Manager. “Because the existing equipment in the Sangjin Substation is in very poor condition, there are frequent electrical faults and circuit trips leading to frequent power outages. The importance of this substation is even more prominent, because when these faults occur, the trip will return to the original power source Kajaki Dam along the power line. Power plants and caused hard shutdowns of the turbines there.” Murray continued, hard shutdowns would damage the turbines and cause long-term power outages. The Kajaki Dam is located upstream of Sangin and is home to a twin-turbine power station that will begin to be upgraded through a contract from the United States Agency for International Development in November, which includes the installation of a third turbine. “Adding a third turbine will greatly increase the electricity available to citizens in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, but the existing substations cannot handle the upcoming load,” Murray said. “Therefore, upgrading the two substations near Musa Qal’eh, Tangi and Sangin is critical to the overall power improvement plan.” The Southern District is expected to be awarded along the Helmand River from Rashkar Gazi to Kandahar by the end of April The substation improvement contract started construction in May and the upgrade was completed in October 2013. Also included in the award of the SEPS-Hellmand contract was Yomuri said, 130 kilometers of 110 kV transmission lines and 20 kV distribution lines. “The total cost of all SEPS jobs in Helmand in the region is approximately US$110 million,” Murray said. There will be new substations, larger power conductors, switchyards, power lines, and complete kits. The completion kit includes such as meters used to accurately read customer consumption, utility poles, replacement of power switch centers, and other equipment necessary for future operation and maintenance of new stations and lines. Murray said that DABS will benefit from installing tamper-proof power consumption meters in homes and businesses. “In Kandahar, DABS estimates that it collects about 27% of the possible revenue from electricity usage because old analog meters are easy to manipulate and difficult to control the power supply. As USACE has upgraded there, they now estimate that they collect It’s about 50-60%. Once the new meters are installed, DABS will likely receive up to 85% of the possible revenue,” Murray said. Providing electricity to citizens of southwestern Afghanistan is one of the most important things the Corps of Engineers does here,” said the commander of the southern region, Colonel Benjamin Vam Air Force. “We have built military facilities that are vital to the safety of Afghan citizens. And the police station, but with projects like this, we actually improve people’s daily lives, which are beneficial to all relevant personnel. I am proud of the work of Task Force Breshna Barq and the commitment of our team to the future of Afghanistan. ”
For this work, the USACE team worked with the Afghan Electric Power Company to solve the power outage problem in southern Afghanistan. Karla Marshall, as determined by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Post time: Jun-04-2021