Power Station

The Power Station bears sole responsibility for producing electricity to meet the domestic and industrial needs of the Company. It also supplies steam to the Ply mill Department for steaming, drying and pressing exercises involved in plywood production, through its High-Pressure-Hot-Water (HPHW) system. The station also provides pneumatic power to the Ply mill Department for peeling of logs.

The power station generates power from wood chips and sawdust; it thus plays an important role when considering waste management in the entire factory. With this, Samartex is free from the problem of wood waste disposal generally faced by timber industries, and as a supplement, makes maximum recovery on natural resources.

At the first stage of operation, wood waste from the Sawmill department and Ply mill peeled cores are transported to the Main Hog site, where they are chopped into chips by two big Carthage Hogs, one operational at any point in time. Also the waste sliced veneer from the Veneer mill and the waste rotary veneer from the Ply mill are transported to a second hogging site, Klockner Hog, where they are also worked on into smaller chips. These chips from the hogs are then conveyed to the Power Station by belt conveyor and handled through a very simple fuel system.

Through the fuel system, the fuel is fed into the combustion chambers of boilers, or steam generators and fired to generate heat energy. The heat energy thus generated is then utilized to produce steam at high pressure in order of twenty (20) bars, i.e. 300 Psi (Pounds per square inch) at a temperature of about 6000 F (Fahrenheit). The steam thus produced is directed into the Turbine Hall, where two 1.25 MVA (Mega Volts-Amperes) Turbo-Alternator sets are sited. The steam then drives the turbine at a speed of 9,220 rpm (revolutions per minute). The turbine in turn drives the Alternator at a speed of 1,550 rpm, through a speed reducing gearing. At this speed, the Alternator generates a 415V (volts), 50 Hz (Hertz), three-phase power, to supply the various sections of the factory and the residential areas.

As the power station of a company alive to its responsibilities to surrounding communities, the station also supplies power to the nearby villages, as far as the prevailing conditions at the station allow.