WEG has supplied 62 self-monitoring motors to drive pumps at the new 55,000m3/d Trekkopje sea water desalination plant in Namibia. The plant, which was designed and built by Keyplan, part of the Aveng Group, is the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa and is a vital water supply asset in a country where 98% of the land is considered arid or semi arid.
During desalination, sea water is pumped to the plant where screening and ultra filtration prepares it for reverse osmosis, a process where a membrane selectively retains the salt, allowing the desalted water to pass through.
The Zest WEG Group’s scope of work included providing technical advice and supplying 62 WEG self-monitoring motors, ranging from 18.5kW to 750kW. Keyplan also required the company to calculate the run up times for those third party pumps that were deemed critical to the plant operation.
The 750kW motors were fitted with soft starters while the remainder of the motors were combined with variable speed drives. All motors were supplied with an anti-corrosion coating because of the corrosive nature of the environment. In addition, because the ambient air is very moist due to omnipresent fog, the installation of anti-condensation heaters in every motor was imperative to keep the motors heated and thus eliminate any moisture build-up and ingress.
WEG Electric Motors
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