Kotu 11MW Power Plant

Project Details

Name	Year	Location	Client	Type	Description	Scope
Kotu 11MW Power Plant	2015	Kotu, The Gambia	NAWEC	Power Plant	HFO power plant based on two-stroke Doosan engines.	Executed the full detailed engineering of the extension, including civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and control.

Project Background & Objectives

The Kotu 11MW Power Plant project was initiated as a critical utility infrastructure expansion to enhance grid capacity and support rising energy demands in Kotu, The Gambia. Commissioned by the National Water & Electricity Company (NAWEC), this essential project focused on an extension utilizing an HFO power plant based on two-stroke Doosan engines. Within this strategic brownfield utility framework, PDP Energy was selected to command the full design phase. The primary company-specific objectives centered on executing the full detailed engineering of the extension, including civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and control, ensuring complete system integration into the active facility.

Project Challenges

Engineering an 11MW heavy fuel oil (HFO) extension utilizing massive two-stroke Doosan engines inside an operational brownfield complex presents severe technical and structural hurdles. PDP Energy had to navigate the mechanical and civil complexities of designing robust structural foundations capable of dampening the immense low-frequency vibrations generated by two-stroke machinery. On the electrical and automation side, integrating the new block required meticulous planning to sync fuel handling, cooling loops, and high-voltage connections into NAWEC’s existing grid interface without causing operational downtime. Furthermore, coordinating thousands of real-time automation loops under a unified instrumentation and control (I&C) system demanded extreme precision to eliminate the risk of cascading grid failures.

Project Outcomes

Operating as the multi-disciplinary engineering partner, PDP Energy successfully formulated and delivered the complete civil, mechanical, electrical, and control detailed engineering packages for the extension. The project successfully established a resilient technical blueprint for increasing national generation capacity under tight operational constraints. By delivering highly synchronized and detailed technical blueprints, PDP Energy cleared the path for NAWEC to safely commission the 11MW energy asset, significantly stabilizing the Gambian national electrical grid and delivering a dependable power supply to local communities and commercial sectors.

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