Statoil opted for low maintenance floodlights at Melkøya

Statoil has recently purchased 300 FX60 floodlights to further improve the safety of the people working at the LNG plant at Melkøya.

The Melkøya plant in Northern Norway is the world’s northernmost liquefied natural gas facility. The gas is transported from the gas field Snøhvit which is the first offshore development in the Barents Sea. For Statoil, safety for the people working at the Melkøya plant is a top priority. When a new risk analysis indicated that also floodlights 25 meters up in the air can be exposed to gas and therefore should be explosion proof, Statoil decided to replace all their floodlights at Melkøya with the new FX60 LED floodlights from Glamox.

No flame path = low maintenance

“The main reason we picked the FX60 is that it allows us to significantly reduce the maintenance cost. With regular floodlights we have large costs every time maintenance is needed, because we need a lift to access the luminaries,” says Principal Engineer in Statoil, Klaus Tingvold.

The reason for the drop of the maintenance cost is that the FX60 has no flame path. A flame path triggers mandatory maintenance inspections every three years.

Tingvold says that another reason for choosing a product from Glamox was the lighting calculation provided in association with the project.

«Glamox did the calculations and adjusted the luminaries to achieve the correct light levels,” he explains.

Reduced energy consumption

Statoil will also be saving money on electricity as a consequence of the project.

“We try to reduce our electricity consumption where we can. It’s a case of taking all the small steps that adds up to a significant reduction,” Tingvold says.

The FX60 luminaires are placed around the main processing plant. Here they provide the appropriate light level throughout the long, dark polar winter which characterizes this part of Norway.

“In case of an emergency blackout the floodlights are powered by generators to ensure a secure evacuation,” Tingvold adds.

Long product lifetime

When fall and winter can last for nine months you need robust outdoor lighting. Area Sales Manager in Glamox Carsten Bonderup is confident that Statoil has made the right decision when it comes to FX60.

“The FX60 has a wide ambient temperature range from, -50°C to +55°C,” he explains, but points to the new advanced integrated circuit LED driver as the most important advantage of the luminaire.

“The drivers are the weakest link in most LED solutions. The IC driver of the FX60 however gives an estimated product lifetime of 120.000 hours or 14 years, highly improved system efficiency and negligible maintenance,” Bonderup says.