Volvo TAD752GE Tier 3 engines with a 200 KVA output were put through their power paces.
Volvo Penta engines are being used in generators in some of the toughest conditions in the planet, including on the Rothera station on Adelaide Island, 1,860km south of the Falkland Islands.
The station, home to some 100 scientists in the summer, and 22 in the winter, sees near-total darkness for six months of the year, and on Antarctica temperatures can plummet in some places to a mind-boggling -90° C.
Westac Power, a UK-based engine generator set manufacturer, has been working with BAS for the past 15 years, supplying gen-sets to several of the organization’s Antarctic research bases.
With so many people living in such unforgiving conditions, it’s vital to keep the station up and running at all times, supplying heat and hot water and allowing staff to maintain a relatively normal standard of living — even on a remote, frozen continent.
Last autumn, Westac Power built six new gen-sets for the Rothera station, which were delivered, installed and operational by February this year. Three of the gen-sets are used as primary power sources, fueling the everyday activities of the camp, while one is used as an emergency standby. The two other units were used for power during the construction and changeover phase.
Volvo engines were selected as the most suitable for this application – in this case, TAD752GE Tier 3 engines with a 200 KVA output.
“We’ve been using Volvo Penta since Westac Power was founded, and we’ve come to rely upon its engines as being extremely robust,” says Tony Shirtliff, chairman of Westac Power. “We’ve found that their performance is usually even better than published – in fact, we’re often surprised at what we get out of them.”
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, given the extreme conditions, there’s very little preparation Westac Power has to do to make sure the engines stay up and running at Rothera.
“We use Volvo Penta engines in Antarctica because we know they’ll work there without any fuss – after all, they’re built to run in Northern Scandinavia,” says says Westac Power’s engineering manager, Richard Ridley. “Provided you put the correct amount of coolant in them, keep them warm enough and don’t try to start them when they’re too cold, they run perfectly.”
Besides reliability and excellent aftermarket service, Ridley and Shirtliff also cite Volvo Penta engines’ superior airflow, low noise and low emissions levels – especially crucial for an environmental research center like BAS.
Add up all these factors, and ultimately, Westac Power’s relationship with Volvo Penta comes down to dependability. “We trust Volvo Penta engines,” Ridley says. “In these conditions, we have every confidence in their ability to perform.”