Project
Fire fighting and irrigation reservoir pumping station, Bawabat Al Sharq
MCC with variable frequency drives, capacitor bank and SCADA integration, followed by a GRP kiosk RTU panel at the reservoir
About this project
The Bawabat Al Sharq development at Baniyas includes a fire fighting and irrigation reservoir with its own pumping station. Almafor delivered the electrical control and automation for it in two packages, roughly a year apart.
The first package was the motor control centre. The consultant's instruction on this one was unusually firm: follow the issued single line diagram without modification, and comply with the specification, system architecture, control philosophy and bill of quantities exactly as issued. That is a reasonable position on a life safety system, and it changes how the work is done. Instead of proposing an arrangement, the engineering effort goes into proving compliance line by line and resolving the places where the drawing, the specification and the equipment schedule do not quite agree.
SCADA integration was added to the scope during design, at the end client's request, so the pump station reports rather than simply running. A capacitor bank was built and tested alongside the MCC for power factor correction, which on a station with drives and large motors is the difference between a compliant supply and a penalty on the bill.
Everything was factory tested before it left the workshop. The MCC, the capacitor bank and the PLC each had their own factory acceptance test with the client and consultant present. Finding a wiring error under test in Mussafah costs an afternoon. Finding the same error at a commissioned reservoir costs a return visit and a delay to somebody else's programme.
The second package, in 2026, was the reservoir kiosk. A GRP enclosure at the reservoir houses an intelligent RTU with a touch screen HMI, a DC uninterruptible supply and the field terminals, sized with space left for future communications equipment. GRP was specified because the kiosk stands outdoors, unshaded, and a steel enclosure in that position becomes a maintenance item.
Two pressure transmitters and two anti flood conductive level switches were supplied and installed with it, and the control cabling between the kiosk and the field devices was pulled and terminated. The anti flood switches matter more than their cost suggests, because a reservoir pump room that floods takes the fire fighting supply with it.
Scope of work
- MCC panel with variable frequency drives, built strictly to the consultant's single line diagram, system architecture, control philosophy and bill of quantities
- PLC control and SCADA integration for the pump sets
- Capacitor bank for power factor correction, factory tested with the MCC
- Factory acceptance testing of the MCC, the capacitor bank and the PLC before delivery
- GRP kiosk RTU panel supplied, installed, tested and commissioned to the tender drawing, with a touch screen HMI and DC UPS
- Field instruments at the kiosk, comprising two pressure transmitters and two anti flood conductive level switches
- Control cable supply, pulling and termination between the kiosk and the field devices
Equipment installed
- Schneider Modicon M340 controller in the MCC, with Ethernet backplane and discrete and analogue I/O
- Variable frequency drives on the pump sets, with the MCC built to the consultant's single line diagram
- Capacitor bank for power factor correction, factory tested with the MCC
- Schneider RTU in the reservoir kiosk, with an 8 inch touch screen HMI
- GRP kiosk enclosure with canopy, DC UPS and AC and DC power distribution
- Two pressure transmitters and two anti flood conductive level switches, supplied and installed
- Kiosk terminals wired to the existing electromagnetic flow meter, tank level transmitter and float switch
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