PT&D PROJECTS EVOLVE NEW STRATEGIES TO SURGE AHEAD IN CHALLENGING TIMES

Finding direction with Bhodhi

Project Manager, S. Ganesh Kumar, at the 400 kV Kamudhi-Ottapidaram Transmission Line project, traces his progress. “When operations resumed, we had a lot of ground to cover with the alignment spread across 139 km covering 3 districts in Tamil Nadu involving the construction of two transmission lines with more than 400 tower locations. Our immediate task was to prioritise the work zones considering the variations in terrain and the logistics restrictions.”

For Planning Engineer, SS Naresh it was about lining up schedules considering a range of external issues, several beyond his control. “Thankfully, we made a breakthrough when our project was chosen as one of the pilot jobs to implement the digital planning tool – Bhodhi that came at the right time,” he exclaims. “It gave us the much-needed insight about variances across zones, listing out the activities to target for acceleration with the add-on cost factors. We were able to predict productivity, timelines and resourcing upfront. It was like having a forward vision,” exults Ganesh Kumar. Being equipped to anticipate physical lags well in advance helped the team to accordingly realign resources like preponing the supply of critical items to facilitate zone wise delivery. “All this helped us achieve our committed sales irrespective of the delay in physical progress especially during the initial days of the project,” reveals a pleased Ganesh.

With ‘Bhodhi’ charting the way forward, it was time to hit the road with the ground works. Ganesh mentions further on-field improvisations like the use of mobile cranes to create M/C towers for critical sections while the 5S methodology ensured maintenance of quality and safety standards. Labour management was still an issue, but the team diligently addressed it with specific teams, monitoring manpower requirement and sourcing. “We even went to the extent of souring workmen from Jharkhand and Bihar through separate buses that helped us to quickly scale up to 700 workmen and fast forward progress.” Today, Ganesh is a happy man having steered the course with almost 280 towers raised and well on track to achieve final delivery.

Building a super substation

Dibyakanti Gosh has just delivered India’s tallest substation, a six storied structure within 15 months. “The 220/33 kV Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) at Ranchi for Jharkhand Urja Sancharan Nigam Limited (JUSNL) is the first GIS contract awarded to L&T by JUSNL,” he shares excitedly, “having to construct six 220 kV GIS bays, nineteen 33 kV GIS bays, 65 MVA, three 220 kV 3 Phase Power Transformers along with a 220 kV Double Circuit EHV Cabling Works across 34.5 Km.”

Working in confined spaces is sometimes advantageous as Dibyakanti and his team discovered by taking up considerable tasks even during the restrictions with the client’s support. “When full operations resumed, we went full throttle and achieved one of the single largest pours in PT&D IC of 710 cum RCC for the building raft and deployed a mobile tower crane to fast track construction activities.” Today, they are sitting pretty having delivered a project well ahead of the schedule with the highest standards of safety and quality that has won their client’s acknowledgement.

Being the Planning Lead, A Karthick says that from June to September, they only focussed on some of the toughest tasks with limited resources. “We took up the LT trenching for 75 km that involved a 12 km stretch of concrete road that required trenching of up to a depth of 600 mm with concrete pneumatic breakers.” In the meantime, 180 workmen from other states were sourced and accommodated at the respective work locations in marriage halls to ensure their safety. They were provided with basic amenities; all the migrant workmen were RT-PCR tested and gradually the team gained their confidence with the successful motivation drives made by Site Accountant Prasanth Kumar and Site EHS Chinmaya Brahma.

By 20^th December, 90% of the LT cables were commissioned. For Madhan and team, the last leg was the most visible phase of the project, having to directly interact with the end consumers to provide 10,840 house service connections. “Not an easy task as we had to deal with the locals and convince them to take the cables inside their houses up to the meter box. We increased our manpower with Tamil speaking members in each team to address any unlikely issues,” shares Madhan. 

For Balaji, on the other hand, maintaining goodwill for L&T was critical too. “Every house had a perfect concrete finish and to lay the cables we had to excavate,” he mentions. “Once the job was over, we ensured that the finishing was as good as it was earlier. Overall, we have taken around 2500-line clearances and completed 99% of works.” Thanks to their efforts power shortages are a thing of the past for the people of Cuddalore.

On a digital drive in the ASEAN Region

Having been associated with Sarawak Energy to deliver two substations earlier, Nitesh Kumar, Project Manager, Matang Substation, is on a familiar ground steering the third consecutive substation. “When the pandemic hit, we were already in a digitalized working environment, so we just continued operating, leveraging our expertise,” he states confidently.

L&T’s scope involved design, procurement, installation, testing & commissioning of the AIS substation with 275 kV & 132 kV outdoor air insulated switchgear units with double busbar arrangement, 2X240 MVA auto transformers, 275 kV cabling works, 33 kV cabling works, 33 kV GIS, complete 275 kV, 132 kV & 33 kV protection, control and communication system along with AC & DC system, retrofitting works related with 2X120 MVA power transformer & reactors and other accessories to undertake emerging load capacity in addition to the existing load of the old substation.

What tilted the scales in favour of the project team was the client opting for remote inspection. “Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) through MS Teams is one good thing that has emerged post the pandemic,” Nitesh says with a smile, “a feasible option and a win-win option for the client. Today, all our quality inspections are routed through digital platforms, saving time and cost.” The 33 kV GIS material at the Selangor factory in Malaysia was tested in a day while the 275 kV and 132 kV Circuit Breakers were remote tested at the OEM’s premise in Suzhou, China, saving the team 5 precious days.

The team pressed forward on the back of a range of digital tools such as BIM for virtual interface design check, Align to monitor online and in real time, Primavera P6, drone to monitor daily progress, time lapse camera to record weekly progress, Shield App for safety, QIR App for quality, Bluetooth communication for work at heights and GPS-enabled transportation. With around 68% of works achieved involving essential priority area civil foundations, control building structural works, structure along with conductor and earth wire installation, the project team is surging ahead with the right momentum. “Apart from the civils works, equipment installation comprising the main & reserve busbar, post insulators, indoor cable trays and grid earthing installation are nearing completion, shares Nitesh, adding proudly, “Our client has acknowledged the timely completion of key milestones with a letter of appreciation.”

Another breakthrough project in the ASEAN region on a digital drive is the 550/230 kV GIS, a highest voltage system involving the installation of twenty 500 kV and twelve 230 kV GIS feeders, three 333.33 MVA power transformers (single phase) associated with reactors for power compensation. “We are at an advanced stage of completion,” informs B. Santhanam, Senior DGM, Projects, “with the outdoor electrical equipment installed and the 500 kV and 230kV GIS building clean room access given, GIS and GIB installations are completed, while the 230 kV building control and relay panel testing/commissioning works are in progress and the entire system will be ready for energization in couple of months.”

Installing the 500 kV GIS was a critical milestone for the Surat Thani 2 Substation, which when commissioned, will be the largest transmission system in Thailand’s southern province and a key power hub in the national electricity grid. It is a norm worldwide that GIS installation is always undertaken in the physical presence of an OEM supervisor. However, as the Korea-based OEM could not make it due to the travel restrictions, the team formulated SOPs that included setting up a virtual room with CCTV cameras, laptops and other essentials that could broadcast the feed to multiple locations. “Remote Supervision of 500 kV GIS installation by the OEM has never been done in L&T but now with the SOPs defined, up to 30% of the works has been completed through remote supervision,” shares Santhanam. Further, drones are being extensively used for project monitoring and was instrumental to convince the client on critical matters that impacted progress.

Making the most of African safaris

The Standard Gauge Railway project in Tanzania is a landmark project involving the construction of a 220 kV single circuit transmission line on lattice towers, along with single conductor and 48 fiber OPGW earth wire across 161 km. “It is a first-of-its-kind dedicated transmission line project which will provide un-interrupted power supply to the high-speed Standard Gauge Railway line,” shares Anil Kumar Giri, Construction Manager.

Considering the span, the team has broken down the alignment into small zones with designated teams addressing specific tasks. “We relied primarily on digital interventions for tasks such as surveying, quality inspections and project monitoring with 15 foundations teams, 18 erection teams and two stringing teams in charge of the work zones,” says Anil. “From March to July 2020, we achieved around 23% of progress and upped the ante thereafter.” Client appreciation has not been long in coming especially for the team’s digital initiatives. “They have endorsed the online FAT programs which has ensured timely delivery of inspected material at site and fast tracking of the project,” Anil smiles contentedly.

Having successfully delivered the Mawana 400/220/132/33/11kV substation, the largest in Botswana in December 2020, Project Manager, Hari Krishana Panga (HKP), has a lot to share on how the team overcame multiple issues apart from the challenges posed by the pandemic. “Threat from wild animals especially elephants was frequent and after weighing all the pros and cons we decided to go for IP65-make floodlights as our elephant deterrent system. We also focused on skills training for our 586 local workmen, hired in line with the citizen economic empowerment policy.”

Their biggest challenge, however, was the unavailability of the OEM teams for testing and commissioning the circuit breakers, disconnectors, and transformers. Very soon it was clear that they would have to make do with the available local resources to take up the critical works. “We formed workmen teams based on their skill sets, deployed skilled workmen under one of our technical managers to do the disconnector and circuit breaker jobs while rest of the team members took up the transformer works,” HKP shares his strategy. “Beginning with one disconnector, the complete report as well as the video shots of the works was shared online with the OEMs. Upon their confirmation, we proceeded with the other critical tasks and completed the OEM’s scope in 57 days. It was a milestone moment as we were able to hand over the equipment to the client without a single snag.

Although Kuwait did not totally lockdown, certain areas where the workmen stayed were restricted for which the teams established small shelters near site locations mobilizing a few subcontractors with limited manpower to focus only on the critical activities and later when fronts opened, they took up stage wise re-mobilization based on substation priority working in shifts. For OEM supervision, they had to think out of the box as most of their coordinates were unable to return as fresh Visas were not issued, informs Senthil. “For a few items like transformer installation, we managed with video calls. For other equipment like the GIS and switchgear, we prioritized work in a sequential manner as they were only two supervisors so that the Taking Over Acceptance Certificate for the substations could be delivered on a weekly basis to the customer. However, for the 132 kV terminations we managed to bring the OEM supervisors through special Visas obtained with the help of our client.

Summing up PT&D’s achievement, one PAHW representative rightly puts it, “Many will start fast but few will finish strong,” which is an apt testimony for such a special project delivered during challenging times.

However vast the span, PT&D always knows how to steer ahead, deliver projects across geographies, making them a truly global EPC player. Being a step ahead is the PT&D way of playing the power game.