IGS wins long term contract with Drax Power Station in UK

Integrated Global Services (IGS) has been awarded a major long term contract with Drax Power Station, Selby in North Yorkshire, UK.

Drax Power Station operates in total six units with a total capacity of 3.945 MW providing about 8% of Great Britain´s electrical power demands.  Almost half the power station has been upgraded to run on compressed wood pellets, producing enough renewable energy to supply three-million homes.

The units suffer from wastage on evaporator walls due to fireside corrosion.  Wastage on pressure parts can lead to unplanned outages, and the consequential loss of production creates a negative impact on the business performance of the plant.

To address this wastage, Drax had the option of changing out pressure parts or extending their component life with the use of a high velocity metal coating.  The former alternative would have resulted in significant additional downtime on the front end and higher costs.

The plant instead selected to engage IGS to apply a proprietary high velocity arc spray coating which was not only less invasive than pressure parts replacement but also less likely to be impacted by future corrosion attack due to the high nickel-chrome content of the coating and the unique application process technologies.

The first project has been recently and successfully implemented in May 2016, during which IGS protected over 400m² of surface with its proprietary process. Drax maintenance project evaporator protection portion Project Engineer Sam Wilkinson said: "The project execution team was professional, flexible, and carried out the project safely and within timescales,"

IGS Business Development Director Daniel Spálenka said: "As the global leader in surface technology solutions with over 30 years of experience, our customers appreciate not only the performance of our product portfolio and the professionalism during project execution, but also the close cooperation and strategic partnership that IGS forms with its customers. 

"Also, IGS's significant commitment to understanding of the total cost of maintenance from the customer's perspective and the underlying corrosion and erosion mechanisms through our own university level laboratory leads to trustful and reliable relationships with our global and local customers in various industries."