TGOOD Africa supplied 300 gas insulated primary switchgear rated to 40.5kV (TGP 40.5 GIS) for the Kamoa-Kakula project. Working with DRA Global, our switchgear was for the new copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was expected to yield an estimated 6 Mtpa in its first phase alone (DRA). The project was organised into two phases as follows:
Phase 1
In phase 1 we supplied 76 of the 33kV switchgear panels for 7 switchboards (including spares). The sizes of the switchboards were a maximum of 22 and a minimum of 6 panels per switchboard. We installed our gas insulated metal enclosed switchgear in cubicles as per the customer’s requirements.
The contract started in April 2020 and we delivered these 76 MV switchgear in November and December of 2020.
The client specified the IED that formed part of the scope and TGOOD Africa integrated it and completed the secondary designs for multiple incomer, feeder and bus section schemes to Kamoa/DRA requirements.
TGOOD Africa further designed and sourced the support frame and cable box steelwork for the switchgear to be mounted and supported over an open 2m slot in the switchgear building floors. Site supervision assistance was provided during installation and commissioning.
This project was completed during the COVID pandemic. This resulted in several challenges, such as, design and interfacing challenges, different and changing lockdown constraints, logistics of the IED from four different countries to the switchgear factory, etc. Expected design completion and delivery times were tight.
Due to travel restrictions DRA Global could also not send personnel to the factory to conduct the factory acceptance test (FAT). TGOOD Africa employed personnel, affiliated with TGOOD’s factory, to assist with, conduct and to interface remotely with DRA and TGOOD Africa for a comprehensive remote-FAT to be completed.
Phase 2
In phase 2 we supplied 47 of our 33kV switchgear panels for 6 switchboards or switchboard extensions (including spares). The sizes of the switchboards / extensions were a maximum of 18 and a minimum of 1 panels per switchboard. These were installed in gas insulated metal enclosed switchgear cubicles, like before.
This phase of the contractual commenced in May 2021 and we delivered the panels in November 2021.
As per phase 1 the client specified the IED that formed part of the scope. Since Phase 1 the main IED supplier had made some changes to their equipment and TGOOD Africa updated the secondary designs to accommodate the changes as well as developing additional designs for new incomer, feeder and bus section schemes that Kamoa/DRA introduced. Kamoa also opted to make use of ENFI as the engineer on this project instead of DRA.
TGOOD Africa again designed and sourced the support frame and cable box steelwork for the switchgear to be mounted and supported over an open 2m slot in the switchgear building floors. Site Supervision assistance was provided during installation and commissioning.
During this project the COVID restrictions were less but still a challenge during some times and in some countries. The logistics of the IED from four different countries to the switchgear factory remained a challenge due to the suppliers not having CCC certification. In addition, the customer needed accelerated delivery and for the scope to be split in two batches so that part of it could be airfreighted to site. TGOOD Africa made the required preparations and implemented the changes to accommodate airfreight, where required. With Kamoa’s assistance, TGOOD managed to deliver 6 weeks ahead of the original agreed delivery dates.
Due to the success in Phase 1 with the remote-FAT the customer opted for it again.
Phase 1 and 2 extensions and spares
TGOOD Africa supplied 33 of our 33kV switchgear panels for various new switchboards and switchboard extensions (including spares) as well as the supply of additional spares on different orders based on the operational and site personnel requirements.
This scope was executed on different contracts, contract amendments and purchase orders received from the customer over an extended period. Due to the staggered scope with relatively small quantities of switchgear panels (at different periods in time) the method of execution the supply of switchgear panels was changed. For this scope the switchgear panels were manufactured and wired in China and then shipped to TGOOD in South Africa. In parallel, TGOOD Africa sourced and secured the specified IED for delivery to South Africa where it was installed and the wiring completed. In this case DRA completed the FAT at TGOOD Africa’s premises in Edenvale.
TGOOD Africa again designed and sourced the support frame and cable box steelwork for the switchgear to be mounted and supported over an open 2m slot in the switchgear building floors. Site supervision assistance was provided during installation and commissioning.
Phase 3
In this phase, TGOOD Africa supplied 225 of our 33kV switchgear panels for 11 switchboards (including spares). The sizes of the switchboards were a maximum of 35 and a minimum of 8 panels per switchboard.
This time our TGP40.5 gas insulated switchgear was installed in cubicles manufactured by TGOOD’s factory in China.
This contract started in November 2022 and we delivered the solutions from August 2023 to January 2024.
As per the previous phases, the client specified the IED that formed part of the scope. The main IED supplier again made changes to their equipment and TGOOD Africa updated the secondary designs to accommodate the changes as well as developing additional designs for new incomer, feeder and bus section schemes that Kamoa/DRA introduced.
TGOOD Africa designed the support frame and cable box steelwork for the switchgear to be mounted and supported over an open 2m slot in the switchgear building floors. The customer opted to source the cable boxes and TGOOD Africa sourced the support frame steelwork. Site supervision assistance was provided during installation and commissioning.
The logistics of the IED from four different countries to our switchgear factory remained a challenge due to the suppliers not having CCC certification. As before, the customer needed accelerated delivery and for part of it to be airfreighted to site, which we accommodated. Again, TGOOD Africa managed to deliver well a-head of the original agreed delivery dates on every one of the four batches in this contract.
The customer opted for remote-FAT again. Due to the scope being much bigger this was a challenge, but TGOOD completed it successfully.
During these projects regular amendments had to be made due to additional and/or changing requirements from the customer. TGOOD handled the changes professionally and completed it successfully.
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