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CUC commissions US$50M 2000Expansion
CUC officials with representativesfrom its strategic alliance partner MAN B&W Diesel AG of Germanyand subcontractor BWSC of Denmark at a tree planting to commemoratethe completion of the 2000 Generation Expansion at CUC's NorthSound Road Compound. The tree was planted as a symbol of cooperationand friendship between the companies, two of the many synergiesafforded by the strategic alliance agreement. From left, andersBenfeldt (BWSC), Scott Hawkes and Joe Imparato (CUC) Chris Walker,Mrs. Anne Marie Schulte (MAN), Peter Thomson (CUC) Dr. Hans J.Schulte (MAN) Jerome Wallace and Bruce Drake (CUC) and SiguardAndersen (BWSC).
by Linda Rutherford
The power company, Caribbean Utilities Company(CUC) officially commissioned its 2000 Expansion Project, saidto be US$50M worth of investment in the future of Grand Cayman,with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday October 30.
Expansion is in the areas of power generation,transmission and distribution (T&D) and information and controand involves several major sub-projects..
The event, which began at 3:30pm, was held at the company's NorthSound Road Power Plant Compound. The Welcome and Opening Remarkswere done by Company Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President,Mr. Peter A Thompson, and the feature address by His Excellencythe Governor, Mr. Peter J Smith, CBE.
Consecration of the various facilities was done by Pastor Al Ebanksof the Agape Family Worship Centre.
Giving a background to how the project gotstarted, Mr. Thompson said that meeting the challenges of growthhas become a standard for CUC in recent years. Based on forecastsof approved projects by the Cayman Islands Central Planning Authority,he said, it was estimated since back in 1998 that electricitydemand on Grand would increase at an annual average of eight percent over the next four to five years.
Confirmation of this, he said, can be seenin the wealth of construction currently taking place on GrandCayman and the record peak load of 70.2 MW achieved just thismonth, which is a seven per cent increase on last year 's performance,and by the fact that generation growth this year is at the budgetted8.5 per cent level.
In addition, he said, it had become evidentthat in order for CUC to keep up with the growth in electricitydemand and maintain its high standard of reliability, that itwould be necessary to install not only additional generation capacitybut further develop its 69kv transmission and distribution systemand moving away from the old analog to digital control technology.
He said that in moving forward with theirdevelopment plans, CUC took a very innovative approach by doingthings like negotiating separate strategic alliance agreementswith engineering consultants and generator and sub-station manufacturers.These include companies like RW Beck and ABB T&D Power, bothof the USA and MAN B&W Diesel of Germany.
Mr. Thompson explained that unlike traditionalcontracting, the strategic alliance concept is a cooperative businessrelationship in which both parties recognise and maximise mutuallybeneficial needs over the longer term. "The parties enterinto a process with the common objective of achieving the substantialbenefit of increased productivity, improved efficiency, reducedcosts and mitigation of risks," he said.
A key factor of this process, he said, wasthe use of 'principled negotiations' rather than the traditional,adversarial customer/supplier relationships, thereby creatinga win-win environment.
In closing, Mr. Thompson observed that becausethe challenges the company faces today are many ways more complexthan those of yesterday, it is forced to operate differently;to be "more creative and innovative in meeting the expectationsof an increasingly sophisticated customer base."
"Choosing the right partners and businessstrategies, one that is turning to technology for solutions,"he said, is as critical as ever, not just for increased shareholdervalue, but also to enable us to provide cost-effective solutionsto all our customers."
Present at the commissioning were MAN B&WPresident and CEO, Dr. Hans J Schulte; ABB Power T&D President,Dr. Richard Siudek; and Stork Engineering's Managing Director,Mr. John Prins.