Sol beer is well known as one of Mexico’s tastiest exports and Deep Sea Electronics Plc. recently assisted with an interesting project at their main production facility in Puebla State, Mexico.  The malt fermenting plant supplies all the company’s breweries throughout Mexico, and twenty-four hour operation is essential for supplying market demands.  The DSE Sales Manager for Latin America visited the plant to assist with the installation of a Load Share system.  

 The factory has three electricity supplies coming in from the mains and each one provides power to different parts of the plant.   This is supported by two generator sets in Load Share operation.   The Load Share system is required to synchronise with each mains supply and switch seamlessly to import/export mode during peak tariff times, keeping mains consumption below the high tariff level (peak lopping).  The system is also able to take full load in the event of a complete mains failure, and will perform a controlled and uninterrupted return, by synchronising with each mains supply and ramping down the generators.   Generators are programmed to ramp up and down during changeover periods to avoid undue stress on the engines, and each one takes a proportionate share of the load.   The ability to do this is made possible by powerful standard features within the DSE 5560.

 Using the DSE Load Share system in this way ensures an uninterrupted electricity supply and enables the Sol factory to reduce excessive electricity costs by automatically switching to generator when mains tariffs are at their highest – typically 6pm to 10pm every day – and also gives peace of mind as an emergency stand-by system. 

 As Sol beer continues its position as one of the leaders in the Mexican market, and also as an extremely competitive beer in export markets, the reduction in overhead costs will no doubt play a significant role in maintaining competitive prices.  Pictured below is one of the generators fitted with the DSE5510, on-site at the the Sol fermenting plant.  

Deep Sea Electronics plc, UK manufacturer of control systems for the power generation industry, recently won a lucrative contract to supply their high-tech controllers to Cuba.  The contract, worth approximately £1m to the UK based Electronics Company, commenced in May and will help alleviate Cuba’s growing electricity crisis.

The Caribbean island, which is now heavily reliant on tourism, has undergone massive changes in recent years.  Heavily supported by the former Soviet Union prior to the collapse, the country is now in need of significant investment in the infrastructure to ensure economic growth.  In particular the electricity distribution system has seen little investment and is now struggling to cope with demand – blackouts and energy shortages have become a way of life for Cuba and disruption to the business community is slowing the turn-around.

The situation was further compounded by the arrival of Hurricane Ivan.  This devastated a large area of the Caribbean, and Cuba itself suffered massive damage, decimating the electrical supply network to such an extent that, even today, whole areas are still without power.

In a major Cuban Government initiative, improvements have begun that will alleviate the problems and prevent further collapse of the electrical supply. 

The first part of the project began with the purchase of over 2,000 gen-sets and nearly 2,000 load share systems and transfer switches.  Contracts were awarded to several large OEMs throughout South and Central America, and control systems made by Deep Sea Electronics (DSE), are being fitted. 

The new mini power stations strategically placed along the main supply, meant that grid failure or partial blackouts could be picked up by the nearest stand-by system. DSE were chosen because their systems offer comprehensive and flexible operation for a variety of application demands, but are also extremely reliable and user-friendly.

DSE Latin American Sales Manager, said ' We first heard of this exciting project back in February.  We worked hard with a number of different OEMs to bid for the contract and along the way we fought off stiff competition from other Control Manufacturers from France, China, and Eastern Europe.”

This part of the project is expected to take 18 months to complete, and is intended to be a fail-safe solution to Cuba’s lack of capacity and supply, until improvements to the distribution network are complete.  The high volumes do not pose any problem for DSE’s high-tech production lines and orders started leaving the UK site in May 2005 to fulfill the tight project deadlines.

With the onset of global warming and the pressures put upon us all by the Kyoto Protocols, the Power Industry continues the search to find greener or renewable fuels, and has lead to DSE getting involved in a green project in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

DSE were asked to supply a system for a bio-gas generator in the Azores.  Bio-gas is emerging as one of the alternatives to diesel and can be made from animal waste or gas produced from land-fill sites.  In this particular case, giant silos at an Azores’ farm collect and agitate pig-waste, from an 18,000 strong herd on the island, to release the gas.  It is then used to fuel the generator, supplementing the farm’s electricity needs.  Remaining slurry from the process is returned to the land, completing the green process.

Required to provide power 24 hours-a-day, the farmer had the brainwave to increase revenue and cut costs by producing his own electricity from the waste, and selling surplus power back to the main grid supplier.

The complete bio-gas installation uses two 400 KW sets, and Deep Sea Electronics sent Technical Support Engineer John Ruddock to site, to assist with commissioning.

Bio-gas, by nature, is unusual to work with as the pressure is often inconsistent.  “Installation specifications normally take this into account though” said John, “so it is not a problem for our controllers”.  Commissioning went well and the system is now fully operational.

UK and European Sales Manager for Deep Sea Electronics, Mr David Thomson, said “After the success of this project, we anticipate seeing a significant increase in the use of our systems in this type of application.  We are aware that already our systems are being used in other sour gas sites throughout the UK and Europe.”

Pictured below is the rich green farmland of the Azores.