Member Article

Trio of energy network improvement deals

Fastflow Energy Services (FES) – part of the Washington based Fastflow Group - has secured three new contracts to carry out a string of improvements to the national gas network.

All fall under an asset health framework agreement and will provide four years’ work for FES teams.

The first is for Cadent Gas – which recently acquired 61% of National Grid Gas Distribution (NGGD) – and is part of a four year complex engineering partnership (CEP) project covering 100 sites.

The second two are for National Grid Transmission and involve 15 design and build projects in Scotland and 15 more, build only contracts in the West Midlands.

The focus of the work is to ensure a resilient gas supply for future generations. It will also enable the grid to meet its Revenue, Incentives, Innovation, Outputs (RIIO) commitments across the network.

Tony Cottrell, Managing Director at FES, said: “We are delighted to have secured this work, extending our relationship with National Grid and forging new partnerships with Cadent Gas. Being trusted to enhance the nations gas supplies shows that we are building a sound reputation within the sector.”

Through the use of immersive visualisation techniques and imagery, an in-depth ‘walk around’ of the Cadent Gas sites was undertaken, allowing the team to fully comprehend the condition of the existing assets. On the strength of this, FES was instructed to begin work at seven locations.

Although still in the early stages of the project, the team has already identified some key opportunities for innovation and standardisation, which will generate cost savings for client.

Similar pre-improvement investigations are also commencing on the National Grid Transmission sites, all of which vary vastly and the scopes range in complexity from the replacement of valves and actuators to re-painting whole sections of the sites and finally civil operations such as fence replacements and road improvements.

Each site is a strategic link in the network and the phasing and planning of outages is paramount to ensure supply is not interrupted. Scheme designers must consider this whilst allowing for regulatory constraints, key maintenance and repair windows and future operation requirements.

FES is part of the Fastflow Group - an independent business with almost 30 years’ experience of providing award winning work to the utilities and support services sectors. It provides work for over 600 people and turnover this year is expected to exceed £70 million.

Picture caption: FES at work on a gas diversion project.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .