MARIGOT--Two giant chimneystacks to expel exhaust were transported by road from the harbour in Pointe Blanche to the EDF electricity plant in Galisbay on Sunday morning, causing some temporary inconvenience to traffic stuck behind the convoy.
The chimneystacks from a manufacturer in Finland are to be installed with the new engines that are already in place at the plant. A third chimneystack is still at the port in Philipsburg waiting to be transported, as another trailer was not available Sunday.
The convoy stopped briefly at the border in Cole Bay at 9:00am to wait for a Gendarmerie escort to complete its journey to Galisbay. The chosen route was to turn left at the Bellevue roundabout instead of going the more direct way along Rue de Hollande because suspended cables on the overhead poles were too low.
Nevertheless, the slowest part of the journey was on Rue St. James, as two workers with long rods constantly had to lift overhead cables to enable the convoy’s passage below.
“After that the journey went quickly, to the Tourism Office roundabout and on to the waterfront,” said Didier Hilaire, Bouygues Energies and Services technician in charge of electrical construction installations. “We arrived in Galisbay at 11:30am, so it took us about 2½ hours to get there from the border.”
He explained that the chimneystacks would be installed in September. The three chimneys weighing 24, 18 and 12 tons respectively will be lifted into place individually by crane. Testing will start thereafter.
The transporter apparently had wanted to deliver the chimneys by road instead of by barge directly to Galisbay.
Three new engines that were delivered to the site earlier this year for the EDF plant are quieter, consume less energy, perform better and pollute far less. The new power plant is forecast to open in 2016. The old engines will be retired once the new engines are installed and running.
