IMS Cape, part of the Zest WEG Group, has embarked on one of its most complex orders for generator sets to date, poised for installation in the R1.6-billion Portside Project in Cape Town, a new 35 storey commercial office tower that encompasses an entire city block on the Foreshore.
Portside, developed by Eris Property Group and Old Mutual Property, will become the provincial headquarters for the three divisions of FirstRand Bank – First National Bank (FNB), Rand Merchant Bank and Wesbank. Co-owners Old Mutual will offer an additional 25 000 square metres in the tower for leasing to corporate office tenants.
The order was placed with IMS Cape in July 2012 by Murray & Roberts Western Cape, the principal contractor on the Portside project, and is scheduled for delivery in November this year, with installation in April 2013 and final commissioning in October 2013.
“We’ve worked on similar installations in the past with Murray & Roberts Western Cape, but this project is by far the most challenging,” IMS Cape’s Bruce McCracken says. “However, we’re confident that with the detailed planning already undertaken and with the input of a highly professional and skilled team, this project will be completed successfully.”
The scope of the order includes two 1 250 kVA gensets to be installed on the 7th floor for First Rand Bank, along with matching 1 250 kVA 400/11 000 V transformers and a medium voltage distribution panel. The Old Mutual offices will receive two 1 250 kVA gensets, also positioned on the 7th floor adjacent to the First Rand Bank units. Both pairs of gensets will be fed from three 23 000 litre bulk fuel tanks located on the ground floor, where First Rand Bank will have two tanks and Old Mutual, one tank.
The total supply of the fuel tanks, all fuel reticulation and the equipment that will allow the fuel to be pumped from the ground floor to the 7th floor is the responsibility of IMS Cape, including fuel supply. The fuel tanks will be positioned on the ground floor in fuel farm-specific rooms.
Both installations are noise sensitive and IMS Cape has designed special sound attenuators and exhaust systems that meet the Cape City Council’s stringent by-laws.
In addition to the two 1 250 kVA units for First Rand Bank, IMS Cape will receive a 300 kVA canopy unit supplied by Murray & Roberts Western Cape, requiring the technical team to configure the unit’s electrical interface and position it on the roof level of the building.
“One of the unique features of this project is that these are extremely big units, each weighing about 11 tons and measuring 5 metres in length,” McCracken comments. “The units will be lifted into place by a crane, through a side entry into the building on parking 7 floor.”
As the oldest and largest generator set manufacturer in Cape Town, IMS Cape has a reference base which goes back more than thirty years and the company lists many of South Africa’s major corporations among its customers. IMS Cape offers both standard off-the-shelf generator sets as well as custom built units for specific applications. These are available in either stationary or portable configurations, and range from capacities of 20 kVA up to 2 000 kVA and above where multiple units are employed for automatic synchronisation.
