News

Amid the increased construction demand and tight deadlines facing electrical contractors, Legrand UK & Ireland has upgraded its range of busbars and tap-off boxes to offer a wider choice of power distribution solutions that save time on installation.

For those working on projects with varying power requirements, the new Zucchini XCP range from Legrand is designed to fit all budgets and power requirements across multi-occupancy residential, commercial and industrial applications.

As UK construction grows at the fastest pace in 24 years, there is more pressure than ever on contractors to complete projects on time and on budget. With sectors such as warehouse construction experiencing investment 54% higher in 2021 compared to 2018 according to Knight Frank, Paul Martin, Lead Marketing Manager for Legrand’s Power Distribution business unit, explains how M&E solutions must support contractors with these challenges.

Paul says: “The pressure facing contractors to deliver projects means there is little room for error when installing electrical systems. A particular example of this has been seen in the warehouse construction sector, which has seen a boom in conjunction with the rise in e-commerce over the past year.

“Along with requirements for time saving, there is an expectation that safety will be prioritised across all installations in any application. To help contractors with these pressures, we have designed the new XCP range to ensure correct installation can be quickly carried out first time, while remaining cost effective and avoiding the need to replace or reinstall.”

To support contractors in promoting safety while speeding up installation, the range is quick to install and can be visually inspected for correct connections due to the shear off bolt connections. This can reduce the risk of bad connections which cause over heating problems.

The XCP range is also available with a two-times rated neutral phase conductor option, helping to mitigate the addition of electronic devices into a building. This option helps contractors ensure the system keeps up with any changes in electrical demand and does not overheat due to electrical imbalances.

As contractors working on a range of applications require different levels of specification, the XCP range includes an XCP-S (Standard) busbar in addition to an XCP-HP (High Performance) counterpart. Along with this, there is a comprehensive, market-leading selection of plastic and metal tap-off boxes available, rated 25-250A and 63-630A respectively.

Paul adds: “With power requirements differing greatly, this range has been created to keep projects within budget. Along with the safety measures, we hope the cost-effective choice of quick-to-install solutions will support contractors with deadlines, budgets and safety concerns for any project size.”

For more information on Legrand’s range of Zucchini XCP busbars, visit: https://www.legrand.co.uk/products/power-distribution/zucchini/busbar-systems/

Satellite and AI-powered Platform to be used by utility, energy and other Companies to measure, enhance, track, report and offset biodiversity, natural capital, GHG emission & other sustainability metrics for land, air and water

AiDash, a leading provider of satellite and AI-powered operations, maintenance and sustainability platform, today announced the launch of its Intelligent Sustainability Management System (ISMS) to help companies achieve their sustainability goals including the 10 percent biodiversity net gain by 2030. The new ISMS SaaS solution, would enable customers like National Grid, a leading energy company, to meet the biodiversity net gain standards (BNG) and increase cost savings and other efficiencies by eliminating frequent land surveys that are currently performed manually.

AiDash developed ISMS over the past 9 months, working closely with the National Grid Partners Innovation team. The unveiling today at 4 PM at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow is led by Stephen Marland, Director of Innovation at National Grid Partners, alongside Abhishek Singh, CEO of AiDash.

Organizations with large landholdings, as National Grid and other utilities, energy, water and wastewater companies, face the challenge of using traditional on the ground surveying methods to accurately map the land type and understand and measure the biodiversity level of each habitat. The cost and process complexities of using these methods can often hinder the implementation of natural capital enhancement plans for progressive, environmentally conscious organisations.

The UK’s Environment Bill legislating the BNG, when approved, would further strengthen the planning powers in England mandating at least the 10 percent net gain in biodiversity for all new developments and raise the imperative of land sustainability across many sectors.

In a recent survey by SAP and Oxford Economics, 50 percent of utility and energy executives said increased process complexity is a hindrance to meeting sustainability goals.

“Sustainably responsible organizations are struggling to find integrated operations platforms that can help them stay on top of their goals and meet the regulations within their sectors,” said Abhishek Singh, Co-founder and CEO of AiDash.“Existing tools and techniques lack the ability to analyze historical data and make data-driven environmental improvements. Our new platform solves this problem, allowing organizations to achieve resource efficiency and implement individual Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Any organization and/or government body with large land or water assets can benefit from ISMS.”

The ISMS ‘Land’ module would help customers reduce laborious fieldwork through the AI-backed image analysis for systematic mapping, planning and assessing land enhancements, and quantify biodiversity to plan sustainable land development and restoration initiatives based on the environmental value of varying habitats. The GHG emissions are measured across sources like well pads and gas pipelines through the ISMS ‘Air’ module.

"At National Grid, we are committed to improving the Environmental Value across our sites in the UK by 10 percent by 2026, from a natural capital and biodiversity baseline,” said Prem Gabbi, Head of National Grid Property. “It's a crucial step in helping us achieve our regulatory obligations and enabling us to make our contribution towards addressing the biodiversity crisis and climate change. Collaborating with AiDash's satellite-powered Intelligent Sustainability Management System could enable us to make environmental surveys and audits, relatively seamless, while saving weeks of manual in the field work. This means we could efficiently leverage repeatable and transparent satellite data to design optimal strategies for enhancing the biodiversity across c.3500 hectares of non-operational National Grid land in the UK and regularly monitor improvements while reallocating internal resources."

The AiDash Intelligent Sustainability Management System is officially launching today from 4 PM - 5 PM, local Glasgow time at SEC Glasgow, at the National Grid Green Zone booth at COP26 where National Grid and AiDash representatives will present the new system.

www.aidash.com

By Brenig Moore, founding member and technical director at Astutis, an industry-leading provider of health, safety and environmental training and consultancy.

Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, stressed that climate education is central to making a transition to greener economies that guarantee a "sustainable future for current and new generations." Ryder also pointed out that the transition to a carbon-neutral economy will require new skills, training, and qualifications: "Many new jobs will emerge. Others will have to adapt. This makes climate education for the current and future workforce a priority."

It's essential that individuals and businesses take steps to improve climate education – and pressing. Not least because it's the ethical thing to do, but also because becoming more environmentally friendly is often deeply entrenched in companies' values and business strategy. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) targets, for instance, are public for all to see – including stakeholders – and often underwritten by law. For example, the UK's Climate Change Act 2008 and the European Climate Law made the bloc's goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 irreversible and legally binding.

Company plans to deploy the RealWear devices broadly for its technicians across 92 service centers, and amongst its 35 foreign distributors

9 November, 2021 – London, UK – RealWear, the world’s leading provider of assisted reality solutions for frontline industrial workers, today announced that Anadolu Isuzu, a joint venture with Anadolu Group, Isuzu Motors Co., Ltd. and Itochu Co based in Istanbul, Turkey, has successfully increased its overall productivity by deploying VSight’s remote collaboration software on RealWear’s https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.realwear.com/&source=gmail&ust=1636471972111000&usg=AOvVaw3REAuvIvGjHSh9_lD6QJXH">assisted reality devices for its technicians. 

The ruggedised wearable solution -- the RealWear HMT-1 – enables Anadolu Isuzu’s technicians to resolve mechanical issues significantly faster by connecting them with centre experts. In Anadolu Isuzu’s Academy Technology Center there are two facilities - a Technical Support Room and Pro-active Online Studio. Anadolu Isuzu’s Technical Support Team has deployed the HMT-1 to give fast, accurate and quality service to its customer’s vehicles within its distributor and services network. In addition, the innovative technology is used in online hand-on training, enabling the wearer of the device to show part details, assembly, disassembly and adjustment procedures to attendees in the Online Studio. Additionally, Anadolu Isuzu is using the system in remote supplier quality control processes. The devices have already driven a number of benefits for the business, including speeding up repairs – such as a door adjustment or Engine Control Unit (ECU) programming, significantly reducing travel, reducing the company’s overall carbon footprint, and improving logistics efficiencies for thousands of customers. 

Leading drive and motor manufacturer, WEG has been awarded the prestigious contract to deliver a combined solution to a major hub for crude-oil storage in the Middle East. The Ras Markaz Crude Oil Park project in Oman will be served by flameproof tube-cooled motors and medium voltage drives, designed and manufactured by WEG.

The Government of Oman is expanding the country’s crude oil export capacity to become a global player in the oil storage market. At the heart of this strategy, is the Ras Markaz Crude Oil Park that is being developed by Oman Oil Company subsidiary Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO).

Located approximately 70 kilometers south of the Port of Duqm, Oman, the new crude oil park has a strategic location on Oman’s Indian Ocean coastline offering easy access to markets in South Asia, the Far East, Africa and the Middle East. It will cover an area of 1,253 hectares with a total capacity of 200 million barrels of crude oil upon its completion. This facility is a critical element to position the Sultanate as a major hub in the region and a key link to the Duqm Refinery that also counts on WEG products.

At the crude oil park, WEG’s high voltage solutions team in the Middle East will supply four W22XdT 900K/J 3400kW 4 poles 11000V B3R tube-cooled flameproof motors, four MVW3000 medium voltage variable speed drives, as well as start-up and commissioning of the combined solution.

MSA Safety, the global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of sophisticated  safety solutions that protect people and facility infrastructures, is exhibiting at this year’s ADIPEC event in Abu Dhabi from 15-18 November.
Hosted by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), ADIPEC is the world’s most influential meeting place where oil, gas, and energy companies and professionals convene to engage and identify opportunities that will unlock new value in an evolving energy landscape.
MSA is excited to share a broad range of safety solutions befitting such a prestigious event, from portable gas detection and fixed gas and flame detection, to head protection, fall protection and its Safety io Grid services. Highlights include:

Senior-level executive with a PhD in Computer Science

Hamburg, Germany – The global IT solutions provider and digitalization specialist for the energy industry, Implico Group, has welcomed a new senior-level executive among its rows. In October 2021, the studied computer scientist Dr. Volker Braun joined the company as CTO and Managing Director. In his new role, the 52-year-old IT expert from the Rhineland will focus on the following key objectives: To refine and expand Implico’s diverse product portfolio. To help the company achieve its standardization and cloudification goals. And to drive and shape Implico’s ongoing transition towards becoming a strong product company. The latter, he will do alongside Tim Hoffmeister (CEO) and Thomas Ernst (Managing Director) as part of the management team.

“I am really excited about my role at Implico,” says the new CTO and Managing Director Dr. Volker Braun. “Within our industry and beyond, we are known as innovation drivers and visionaries. We have a talented team, a top-tier line-up of clients, and a high-end array of products. That is a fantastic foundation to further build upon! The timing is ideal for me to join Implico and commit my experience, know-how, and dedication to this well-established yet go-getting company’s future development and success.”

Industrial and safety leaders never faced so many challenges before.  Such challenges include handling a diverse workforce (all of whom have different ways of working and communicating); contending with transitions, training, and turnovers; and managing disparate devices and data sources. In addition, there’s also the challenge of dealing with compliance issues for every aspect of the safety program, not to mention the personal protective equipment (PPE) itself. For safety professionals like you, the combination of these factors makes for a highly complex worker safety scenario.

TÜV SÜD today launches its ATEX Directive certification service for both CE marking and UKCA mark compliance.

From 1st January 2021 new products being released onto the UK market have had to apply the UKCA mark. CE marking compliance certificates, previously issued for the EU’s ATEX Directive for products already available on the market, will cease to be valid after 1st January 2023 and must instead apply the new UKCA mark.

As TÜV SÜD now holds dual accreditation as an ATEX Directive Notified Body and UKCA Approved Body, it can continue to support manufacturers in maintaining CE certification for EU markets, as well as gain UKCA approval.

The ATEX Directive covers all explosion-proof equipment and systems, including anything used within, or in conjunction with potentially explosive atmospheres. This includes safety, control and regulation devices, as well as protective components, equipment and systems.

Paul Taylor, Business Development Director for Industrial Services (UK) at TÜV SÜD, said: “Manufacturers of explosion-proof equipment and systems must conform to standards that apply to the market into which they are being sold. By maintaining our EU ATEX Directive Notified Body status and becoming a UKCA Approved Body, TÜV SÜD can help businesses to seamlessly comply will both requirements. We will support them in ensuring that it remains ‘business as usual’ as they can carry on supplying EU and UK markets.”

While EU Exit Statutory Instruments enable the UKCA Marking requirements to replace CE Marking, the UK’s standards will remain the same as EU harmonised standards, to maintain a single model. After 1st January 2021, end-users in the UK will already have started to see a UKCA mark appearing on compliant products.

www.tuvsud.com/uk