Transformers
A large oil inventory in one place, outdoors, with enough energy behind a fault to start a serious fire quickly.
Industries we protectFire Protection for
Fire Protection for
Power Generation
Transformers, cable galleries and control rooms carry the highest fire loads on the site and the highest cost of being offline. We design, install and maintain the systems that protect all three.
Industry overview
Fire Safety at Generating and Transmission Sites
A power station concentrates risk in a few specific places. Transformers hold a large volume of oil. Cable galleries and tunnels carry hundreds of metres of cable through the plant, and a fire in one travels the length of it. Control rooms hold the electronics the whole site depends on.
What makes it difficult is that each of those needs a completely different system. Deluge for a transformer. Linear heat cable for a gallery, because no point detector covers a run like that. Clean agent or inert gas for the control room, because water in there costs more than the fire. One site, four or five different answers.
We work across thermal and gas generating stations, renewable and hybrid sites, captive power plants, substations and transmission infrastructure.
- One contractor, start to finish Survey, design, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance, all by us.
- Planned around outages Work scheduled into planned shutdowns rather than forcing unplanned ones.
- Different answer per area Deluge, linear heat and clean agent each used where they belong, not one system stretched across the site.
- Paperwork for the NOC and your insurer Drawings, test records and handover documents both will accept.
Risk profile
Key Fire and Safety Considerations
The six points we look at most closely when we survey a generating site.
Cable galleries and tunnels
Hundreds of metres of cable in a confined route. A fire in one end travels, and nobody can get in to fight it.
Control rooms
The electronics the whole station depends on, in a room where a water discharge costs more than the fire would.
Fuel handling and storage
Coal, oil or gas, depending on the station, all of it with its own detection and suppression requirement.
Battery and DC rooms
Sealed rooms with a chemistry that is hard to cool, feeding the systems that have to work during an incident.
The cost of being offline
Generation lost is the real number, and it is usually far larger than the equipment at risk.
Recommended solutions
Recommended Solutions for Power Facilities
Most stations end up with all of these, in different places. What goes where follows the hazard in that area.
Linear Heat Detection Systems
Make the cable the detector — continuous heat sensing along conveyors, cable trays, tunnels and…
Solution detail
Sprinkler and Deluge Systems
The layer that works with nobody present — wet, pre-action and deluge systems designed to your…
Solution detail
Clean Agent Gas Suppression Systems
Put the fire out without destroying what it has not reached — inert gas and Novec 1230 systems…
Solution detail
Addressable Fire Alarm Systems
The system everything else waits on — addressable panels, detectors and notification devices…
Solution detail
Fixed Gas Detection Systems
Know a concentration is rising while it is still a ventilation problem — fixed toxic and…
Solution detail
Electrical Panel Fire Protection
Deal with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds — tube-based suppression that needs…
Solution detailProducts & technologies
Products and Technologies We Supply
Supplied and commissioned by us, from the manufacturers we are partnered with. Each page carries that manufacturer's own product information and datasheets.
Thermocable ProReact Linear Heat Detection
Heat-sensing cable that makes the whole run the detector — for conveyors, cable trays, tunnels…
Product detail
Simplex Fire Alarm & Detection Systems
Intelligent fire detection and alarm solutions for modern buildings — addressable control…
Product detail
INERGEN Inert Gas Suppression
Inert gas suppression that lowers oxygen below what fire needs while remaining survivable for…
Product detail
HYGOOD Clean Agent Suppression
Engineered clean agent suppression for equipment rooms — sized to the volume and proven to hold…
Product detail
Oldham Fixed Gas Detection
Controllers and fixed detectors for toxic and combustible gases — selected per gas, placed by…
Product detail
Firetrace Panel and Enclosure Suppression
Tube-based suppression that deals with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds, with…
Product detailApplications by area
Protection by Plant Area
These are the things we weigh up in each area.
Transformers and switchyard
Deluge protection sized to the transformer, with detection that will operate it fast enough to matter.
Cable galleries and tunnels
Linear heat cable that makes the whole run the detector, because no point device covers a route like that.
Turbine and boiler halls
High open volumes where beam detection works and ceiling devices do not, with protection for the lube oil systems.
Control rooms and relay rooms
Air-sampling detection with clean agent or inert gas suppression, so the room is usable afterwards.
Fuel handling and storage
Detection and suppression suited to the fuel — conveyors, bunkers, tanks or gas, depending on the station.
Battery and DC rooms
Detection close to the batteries, suppression that suits the chemistry, and separation from what they feed.
Our clients
Clients We Protect in This Sector
Our expertise
Our Areas of Expertise
The parts of a power project that need the most care, and how we handle them.
Detection sized to the space
Linear heat cable through galleries and tunnels, air-sampling in control rooms, and beam detection where a turbine hall is too tall for anything else.
Suppression that suits the risk
Deluge sized to the transformer it protects, clean agent or inert gas for the control rooms, and in-cabinet systems for relay panels.
Protection inside the panel
In-panel detection and suppression, so an electrical fault is dealt with in the enclosure instead of becoming a building fire.
Handover you can actually use
Drawings, zone plans, cause-and-effect and test records, written so your team and your insurer can both read them.
Upgrades to what is already there
Replacing or extending ageing installations during planned outages, including panels long out of support, once we have established what is connected.
Keeping it working afterwards
Scheduled servicing and testing under an AMC, with a record of every visit and the same engineers coming back.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions plant and maintenance teams ask us first.
Still have a question?
Speak directly with one of our fire safety engineers.
Call +91 88795 33000How is a transformer protected?
Normally with a deluge system — an open spray system that covers the transformer and operates on a detection signal. The detection has to be fast, because the energy behind a transformer fault means a slow system is no system. Sizing follows the transformer and its bund.
What covers a cable gallery?
Linear heat detection cable. It runs the length of the gallery and makes the whole route the detector, which is the only practical way to cover hundreds of metres of confined cable run. Point detectors in a gallery give you a fire that has already travelled.
Why not sprinklers in the control room?
Because the discharge destroys the electronics the station depends on, and the recovery takes far longer than the fire would have. Clean agent or inert gas puts the fire out and leaves the room usable, which is the whole point.
Can the work be done during a planned outage?
That is normally how we do it. We agree the scope against the outage window, prefabricate what we can beforehand, and plan the sequence so the work finishes inside it rather than extending it.
Can you install while we keep operating?
Usually, yes. The work is phased around your hours, area by area. If a short shutdown is genuinely unavoidable we tell you at design stage so you can plan for it, rather than you finding out on the day.
Can we extend what we already have instead of replacing it?
Often you can. It depends on the panel you have, whether it has spare capacity and whether the equipment is still supported by its manufacturer. We check that on site before we propose anything, and we will say plainly if extending it is the wrong call.
What does a site assessment involve?
An engineer comes out, walks the site with you and looks at each area. You get a written view of where the gaps are and what we would recommend, with the reasoning behind it. There is no charge and no obligation.
Contact our industry experts
Get a Fire Safety Plan for Your Station
Tell us what is on site and when your next outage window is, and an engineer will come and walk it with you.