Everywhere one looks these days, one seems to be surrounded by cables – TV, CCTV, telephone and, of course, electricity. These cables frequently run for miles and yet how often do we stop to think about how various individual lengths are joined? While the cables might well be produced in a never-ending length, they cannot be transported to site in that way. It is therefore down to companies such as CGI’s to provide the solution. Based at Meopham in Kent, CGI will celebrate its 14th anniversary in April 2012.
Today, CGI provides a complete cable installation, termination and jointing service, operating on LV and HV systems up to 132kv. Whether it be large power cables or small diameter control cables, CGI is able to undertake a complete installation service including cable management systems, cable ladder racking, cable tray and basket systems, instrument and control cables and voice and data including fibre optics, civil works and cable pulling.
In addition to joints, terminations and installation, CGI is also a specialist contractor in switchgear and transformer replacement, together with testing, commissioning fault location and maintenance, providing cable location, identification and spiking. An installation and site testing service is available. Certificated testing is available with pressure testing up to 33kv. Sub-sea installation is another area in which CGI is rightly considered market leaders, with extensive experience on a national and International basis.
Gary Watkins explained, “Three of us – Colin Guthrie, Ian Abbott and myself – founded CGI (Colin, Gary and Ian) in April 1998 as an independent limited company. Together, the three of us have over 60 years experience in the industry, are skilled in the jointing and termination of cables from LV up to and including 132kv (up to 33kv Paper Lead Cables (PILC) and up to 132kv Polymeric Cables (XLPE).
“All of the team have exceptional qualifications and certificates between them in competency and safety. Colin and Ian both worked for AEI Cables before joining Creatside and Walgrave, which is where we all met up.
A lot of Ian’s experience was with the oil industry, including offshore and sub-sea, while mine ranged from oil refineries, construction sites, hospitals, offices and even wind farm projects. Colin has worked with a number of major clients, including Morrisons Utilities and worked on the Olympic Village with Skanska, covering the EDF network and specialising in sub-station replacement, together with the Network Rail infrastructure.”
With regard to the Olympic Village, CGI were involved from the very beginning with EDF as a large amount of new power installations were required. As Gary says, “There is only so much cable that can be held on a single drum and so jointing is required.
We installed a new11kV ring main on site and then went around cutting the existing cables and joining them up with the new power sources. There is a large amount of work in Asset Replacement – upgrading existing 11kV power supplies, cutting out the old cables and installing new ones. This work was subcontracted through Skanska to EDF – now UK Power Networks.” CGI is currently involved in a couple of wind farms in Barrow-in-Furness.
The Barrow Offshore Wind Farm in the East Irish Sea is approximately 4.3 miles southwest of Walney Island and has an installed capacity of 90MW. The 30-turbine wind farm was completed in June 2006 and is operated by Dong Energy. The second is the Ormonde Wind Farm, 5.9 miles offshore, west of Barrow-in-Furness. Originally planned as a hybrid gas and wind project, it was eventually bought by Vattenfall and built as a 30-turbine wind farm with a generating capacity of 150MW. It was completed in August 2011. CGI has been involved in fitting the terminations to each of the turbines.
Because two of the three directors had each worked with AEI Cables – who supplied the cables for these projects, CGI were invited to do the terminations. One of the key requirements for this highly skilled work is proper training.
Traditionally, it involved a four-year apprenticeship, working through LV connections (<1,000V), through 11kV, thence to 33kV and 132kV finally up to the National Grid voltage of 415kV. This apprenticeship involved both college and on-site participation. Due to the change in materials, with a decreasing emphasis on sweating joints in lead covered cables
with a move to new cable types and connections, CGI is now looking at starting its own training school. Gary concludes, “Increasingly, we are being asked to provide civil work and also a senior authorised person in order that we can carry out switching work. We work with a couple of civil contractors at present and we are currently looking at a job where we will be required to provide the civils and an SAP, of which there are only a small number available.”
For further information please telephone 01474 815110 or visit www.cgisltd.com.
