Cummins Supply Power Needs to Santo Domingo Metro
23 April 2008 14:20
SAMPOL has recently been involved in the build of the brand new Santo Domingo Metro, a rapid transit system in the capital of the Dominican Republic, and chose Cummins Power Generation to supply the metro's standby power needs.
SAMPOL commissioned its first Cummins product in 2006 for an installation at Valencia Airport. Since then, thanks to the success of this and subsequent installations it has been a regular customer of CPG Madrid.
The Santo Domingo Metro is part of a major national master-plan to improve transportation in Santo Domingo, and across the Dominican Republic. It is hoped this will ease congestion and the heavy air pollution that severely affects productive time and the health of the city.
The first line of the subway system, which will relieve road congestion in the Maximo Gómez and Hermanas Mirabal Avenue, was completed in February 2008 with commercial service planned to start later in 2008. Two further lines are also planned, bringing the total count to three possible lines each passing through the centre of Santo Domingo.
The first line is approximately 14.5km long, connecting Villa Mella (north of the city) with La Feria (south of the city), and requires a constant supply of 1500V to run at 160km/h. Power is also required continuously at each of the line's 16 stations, both underground and on the surface. Therefore the standby power system required had to be able to handle a heavy-duty power load, whilst considering operation noise, due to the line’s proximity to the city centre and its residential areas.
SAMPOL received quotations from both CPG Madrid and SDMO for the project but chose the Cummins product because of its reliability and competitive price.
SAMPOL specified nine C2000D6 generator sets with QSK60 engines to provide a total of 18MWt standby power to the Metro's principal station, centre office, maintenance system and finally the metro line itself. The sets are operating on 60HZ/480V and because the generators are operating on manual change over it was not necessary for CPG Madrid to supply switchgear.
Fernando Pinzon of CPG Madrid said: "This is the first project of its kind in the Dominican Republic and we are delighted to be part of it. The solution we presented SAMPOL was ideal for the station’s massive standby power requirements whilst delivering against the special environmental considerations; namely that operation be at low-level noise. With further lines planned we hope to continue our relationship with SAMPOL and the Santo Domingo Metro in the future.”
Although the sets are installed to provide standby power, until the Metro is opened to the general public the system is currently running daily and easily coping with the power requirements. This is because the QSK60 engine is ideal for stationary standby applications providing optimum performance, reliability and versatility.
David Blasco of SAMPOL says: "We have worked with CPG Madrid for two years now and have been impressed not only with the reliability and versatility of the products but also the technical experience and expertise of the CPG team. This project is vital to the future of the city of Santo Domingo. Delivering such an important project requires excellent project management skills and part of this is choosing suppliers that you can rely on and products that meet requirements. In this case as with others, CPG Madrid was the better choice and we are very pleased with the outcome."
As well as the sets, CPG Madrid also supplied controls; Lonwork card and Modlon II for the generator sets and Power Command Paralleling PCC 3201 for the system control. This provides total genset system integration, including automatic remote starting/ stopping, precise frequency and voltage regulation and alarm and message display.
This power project was ordered through a Spanish main contractor and the generators were purchased in the EU as part of the EU contribution to funding of this infrastructure project.
Once operational it is expected that more than 200,000 passengers will use the Santo Domingo Metro line daily.
For more information on this company:
Cummins Power Generation - Pre-integrated Commercial Power Systems
Copyright 2008 SPG Media Limited a subsidiary of SPG Media Group PLC
