News

Germany/Kazakhstan, February 2019 – KLPE, an affiliate of the United Chemical Company (UCC), initiated Kazakhstan’s first world-scale GSU project, which, with its total capacity of 1,250 ktpa, is to supply feedstock to the polyethylene plant in the Atyrau Region. The project is being executed as part of a Joint Development Agreement between the UCC and Borealis. ILF Consulting Engineers (ILF) is delighted to have been commissioned to carry out the Project Management Consultancy (PMC) services, including the supervision of a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS), which will support KLPE in the delivery of this strategically important project.

“These strategic UCC initiatives pave the way for the Republic of Kazakhstan’s establishment as a global player in the polyolefin market. By utilizing advanced technologies, engaging world-leading contractors and suppliers, and targeting high levels of safety, reliability and operability, we aim to ensure the maximum return on capital investments” says Maksim Sonin, UCC Project Portfolio Managing Director, and Board Member.

“ILF is proud to support KLPE in this professionally-led and rapidly-progressing project. With the team’s ability to integrate ILF’s Western style of project management and Kazakh engineering requirements with local, state-owned project execution processes, as well as the expertise offered by the team, I am highly confident that the DFS phase will create the maximum value for UCC and its partner, whilst supporting their strategy of sustaining Kazakhstan’s development in the polyolefin market” adds ILF Project Manager and Upstream Area Manager Helge Hoeft.
The heart of the project is the NGL recovery facility, located close to the Tengiz oil field, with a maximum feed gas capacity of over 7 billion Sm3/a for recovering ethane and heavier components as feedstock for the polyethylene project. In addition, a feed gas pipeline from TCO’s facilities, an approximately 180 km long C2+ export pipeline to the polyethylene plant, and a redelivery gas pipeline to the GEEP pipeline, are within the project scope.

ILF Consulting Engineers will be represented at the 3rd Annual International Congress and Exhibition: Hydropower Caspian and Central Asia 2019, organized by Vostockcapital, in the Biltmore Hotel from February 20 to 21, 2019. High-level participants will discuss key topics and set the course for hydropower construction and operation in the Caspian and Central Asian region.

We look forward to meeting you at our stand, number 10. For questions prior to the event, please contact thomas.fritz@ilf.com. For further information, please visit the website at https://www.hydropowercongress.com/

“Contributing to improving quality of life around the world” is a motto that not only fits with ILF’s vision, but certainly also applies to the association Engineers without Borders Austria (IOG – Verein Ingenieure ohne Grenzen Austria). For more than a year now, the two institutions have been successfully collaborating with each other, most notably on the Tyrolean regional group’s “EduZapa” project.

As part of this project, the Tyrolean regional group, which includes some ILF employees, has been improving educational opportunities for school pupils in rural Mexico, since 2016. To ensure that the 3rd project implementation phase was carried out at a high technical level, the planning of the drainage and roof truss was examined by experts from ILF. Several workshops on the topic “Internal Processes” were also held by ILF.

Both ILF and the Tyrolean regional group value the fruitful cooperation with each other, and look forward to continued collaboration during the 4th project implementation phase planned for this year.

At the end of last year, ILF Consulting Engineers was commissioned by EnergyAustralia as provider for independent verifier services for the pumped hydro project using seawater at Cultana in South Australia.

The facility would be capable of producing 225 megawatts (MW) of electricity with around eight hours of storage. That’s the equivalent of installing 126,000 home battery storage systems, but at a third of the cost. Pumped hydro works by using two bodies or reservoirs of water, one at a high elevation, at the top of a hill, and another at a lower elevation, at the bottom. The Cultana project will also include two penstocks, a powerhouse containing two reversible Francis turbines, a tailrace structure and a seawater intake/outfall structure as well as a connection to an existing 275 kV transmission line and balance of plant systems. The water to fill the reservoirs will be sourced from the Spencer Gulf. This water will pass through a pre-treatment filter and then be desalinated via a reverse osmosis process.

It’s potentially a great, cost-effective way of integrating renewable power and ensuring energy is reliable and affordable.

Together with DIN A4 Architektur, ILF Consulting Engineers won the overall design services competition for the “IST Austria Laborgebäude für Life Science und Seminarzentrum” in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria), achieving 1st place against tough competitors.

The new laboratory building and seminar center shall have a total usable floor area of approximately 13,300 m², and shall be a concrete structure. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020, with completion planned for 2022.

Within the joint venture, ILF has been entrusted with the project management services, the structural design, the HVAC planning, as well as occupational health and safety management during the project preparation phase in compliance with the Austrian BauKG (Construction Works Coordination Act).

Besides diverse challenges that we faced, the year 2018 that is drawing to a close also brought us many encouraging developments. All in all, a sense of great satisfaction and gratitude prevails regarding what we have achieved together.

Our sincere thanks go to our esteemed clients and business partners for their constructive cooperation.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous 2019!

In September 2018, the Austrian Georgian Development LLC commissioned ILF Consulting Engineers to carry out the construction supervision services for the Lakhami 1 and Lakhami 2 hydropower plants.

The project comprises the hydropower development of the Lakhami River, which has its source at over 3,000 m a.s.l. and originates from the eastern slope of the Kodori Ridge, before it enters the Nenskra River. The Lakhami Upper and Lower hydropower plants are planned on the Lakhami River, north of the Town of Khaisi, in the Svaneti Region in Georgia, at the foot of the Greater Caucasus mountain range.

The Lakhami 1 hydropower plant will have a design capacity of 6.4 MW and the Lakhami 2 hydropower plant a design capacity of 9.5 MW. They will be implemented as a cascade. Both plants are designed as diversion hydropower schemes with buried pipe waterways.

In September 2018 ILF Consulting Engineers was awarded the contract for the detailed design services for the Jubail-Riyadh Water Transmission System.

The 412 km long twin pipeline, with two 88” pipes, will be one of the largest water transmission systems worldwide, and will transport 1.2 million m³ of potable water per day. The project includes one pumping station in Jubail, two intermediate pumping stations along the route, and two tank farms each with a storage capacity of 1.2 million m³.

For the implementation of the project, the Owner SWCC chose the EPC Contractors LIMAK (station construction) and RTCC (pipeline construction). Both contractors have commissioned ILF for the design works. ILF’s scope covers design services for all disciplines including site support during commissioning.

Just recently, ILF Consulting Engineers was awarded a contract for the design of the second tunnel tube of the Gotthard road tunnel in a consortium with three other engineering firms.

Having a length of 17 km, the Gotthard road tunnel is the fourth longest road tunnel in the world and the longest road tunnel in the Alps. In addition to several cross connections to the existing tunnel and underground ventilation stations, the project also comprises two 5-km-long access tunnels and associated external facilities.

The design will start in November with the preparation of the detailed design. This will be followed by the preparation of tender documents and the challenging construction design through to commissioning. ILF is looking forward to applying its wide-ranging experience from the Gotthard Base Tunnel project and other road tunnels to this project.

In late October 2018 ILF Consulting Engineers won a contract, in an engineering consortium with three other German engineering offices, for the general design works incorporating the renewal and rehabilitation of the approx. 56 km long railway line from Flieden to Gemünden (Hesse/Bavaria) of DB Netz AG.

The project is considered a pilot project as essential parts of the renewal and rehabilitation of the line that was put into operation in 1868 have to be carried out in the course of a complete closure of the route section and within a period of one year.

The key element of the measure is the complete renewal of five tunnel structures on this route, with ILF being responsible for a significant part of the tunnel design services.

ILF Consulting Engineers is pleased to announce its participation, as an official sponsor, in the 23rd International Conference “Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan 2018” (OGT) taking place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from November 20 to November 21, 2018.

As part of this year’s conference, our experts will present their technical expertise in the field of associated gas usage, during session 1 on day 2 (Mr. Michael Napel), as well as their expertise in pipelines and project management, during the discussion session on the TAPI pipeline project on day 2 (Dr. Stefan Buerkle).

Feel free to visit us or schedule a meeting to learn about our competencies and experience with oil and gas projects. Let us know how we can help you tackle your challenges (info.muc@ilf.com)!

For further information on the conference, please visit the website at http://ogt-tm.org/.

Following the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam collapse in the Attapeu province in southern Laos, on 23 July, 2018, a tidal wave of mud and water not only destroyed many villages and fields, but also took 66 lives.
Some 100 people are still missing and around 6,500 people have lost their homes.

Since ILF has been involved in the successful implementation of hydropower plants in the country for around three years, the company has made a donation of 5,000 USD to the flood victims to aid them in the restoration of their livelihoods.

ILF Consulting Engineers is pleased to announce its participation, as an official sponsor, in the “9th Arab-German Energy Forum”, taking place in Cairo from October 24 to October 25, 2018.

As part of the Oil & Gas Panel 4 at this year’s congress, our experts will present their technical expertise in project organization, during the presentation “Oil & Gas – Cooperation Perspectives and Egypt’s Transformation into a Regional Hub for Trading” (Joel Toé).

Feel free to visit us or to schedule a meeting to learn about our competencies and experience with oil and gas projects.

Let us know how we can help you tackle your challenges (info.muc@ilf.com)!

For further information, please visit the website at https://energy.ghorfa.de.

On September 21, 2018 the Transalpine Oil Pipeline (TAL) officially put the world’s first recovery station that uses a Francis turbine into operation.

The Taimeralm energy recovery station is located in the municipality of Mittersill (Salzburg) at an altitude of around 1,335 m above the sea. The Transalpine Pipeline carries crude oil from Trieste to Ingolstadt via the Alps. This innovative and worldwide unique station allows the potential energy in the gradient north of the Felbertauern tunnel to be used for the first time to recover energy in an environmentally friendly manner. The energy is recovered by means of a Francis turbine with a directly coupled synchronous generator. The electricity produced is fed into the grid.

The bottleneck capacity of the Taimeralm energy recovery station amounts to 2,500 kW. An annual power generation of approx. 11.5 GWh is achieved. This corresponds to around 12 % of the annual energy demand of TAL Austria or the average annual energy demand of 3,000 households. The difference in altitude between the high point at Felbertauern and the station is 237 metres.

ILF Consulting Engineers has been a partner of TAL in this project since 2006 and was responsible for the following services: feasibility studies (2006 and 2009), conceptual design and site definition, permit application design, tender design incl. award of contract, site supervision, support during commissioning and management of authority notifications.

ILF Consulting Engineers is pleased to announce its participation in the “International Pipeline Conference (IPC)”, taking place in Calgary from September 24 to September 28, 2018.

We look forward to many inspiring conversations with visitors at booth 726, where we will be exhibiting our competences and experience in the field of Midstream, or as part of scheduled meetings (Hyatt Regency, TELUS Conference Center, Calgary, AB, Canada). Let us know how we can help you tackle your challenges (info.muc@ilf.com; info.canda@ilf.com)!

More information can be found here: https://www.asme.org/events/ipc

ILF Consulting Engineers announces its participation in the Gastech 2018 Conference held in Barcelona from September 17 to September 20 as a Session Sponsor. Dr. Stefan Buerkle and Mr. Bernhard Puerzer will represent ILF and host the session ‘Small Scale LNG / LNG Powered Vehicles’.

We will be most happy to meet you at Gastech to receive your questions and help you tackle your challenges. To arrange a meeting upfront, contact us at info.muc@ilf.com.

For further information, please visit the official Gastech website: http://www.gastechevent.com/

As of now, ILF Switzerland is presenting itself on its own website. The new page is integrated into the main page, but differs in local contacts, job offers and references and links to an adapted company and service description.

ILF Switzerland is looking forward to your visit to “switzerland.ilf.com“. Alternatively, you can also open the page by clicking on Country Sites at www.ilf.com.

ILF Consulting Engineers will be represented at the 26th ICOLD World Congress, organized by the Austrian National Committee on Large Dams (ATCOLD), in the Austria Center Vienna from July 2 to July 5, 2018. ICOLD is the world-wide dam commission, comprising more than ninety national committees across the globe, including ATCOLD. ILF supports the ICOLD World Congress as a Bronze Sponsor.

On July 4, 2018 at 17:50, Dr. Christian Auel will be presenting on the “Rehabilitation of the Mud Mountain Bypass Tunnel Invert” during the session “Q100 – Reservoir Sedimentation and Sustainable Development”.

We look forward to greeting you at our stand, number 45. For questions prior to the event, please contact kathrin.klingler@ilf.com. For further information, please visit the website at https://www.icoldaustria2018.com/home/

ILF Consulting Engineers was assigned a contract to support a research project regarding operation and maintenance of pumped storage power plants by the Sejong University in Seoul in the Republic of Korea. The project is supported by KHNP (Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Company), owner and operator of all existing pumped storage power plants in the Republic of Korea.

The main purpose of the project is to establish replacement and repair frequencies of principal equipment and components in pumped storage power plants in the Republic of Korea. Among other things, the research project considers the differences between the European and the Korean approach to operate and maintain pumped storage power plants.

ILF will analyze data, documents and operational management strategies in Europe related to the life cycle of pumped storage power plants.

TINIP – the Tyrolean prize for young engineers has become a fixture in the annual program of the expert group “Engineering offices” of the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce. In this event, outstanding final year projects and diploma projects of the graduates of the technical and vocational school were presented to the public and the winners were chosen by an expert panel.

It was already the eight time that the ILF office building in Rum near Innsbruck (Austria) served as the official venue for the presentations and the meeting of the expert panel of judges.

Being the sponsor, ILF was also present at the subsequent prize-giving ceremony at congresspark igls and had the opportunity to give the prize in the category 5 “Civil and underground engineering” to the winning team.

We would like to congratulate the TINIP winners in the individual categories and all participants on their extraordinary accomplishments!