Hazardous area equipment caters for a range of specific needs, such as resistance to harsh chemicals, reduced risk of igniting an explosion, or remote operation with minimal maintenance demands.
It is the latter of these that could prove most valuable in the hazardous area equipment deployed as part of an upcoming scheme to start generating power at Chernobyl again.
This time it will not be a nuclear facility, but a solar farm that occupies the 30 square kilometre exclusion zone contaminated by fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown.
GCL System Integration Technology announced plans to partner with China National Complete Engineering Corporation to construct the solar farm, taking advantage of the abundant sunlight received by the exclusion zone.
Shu Hua, chairman of GCL-SI, said: “There will be remarkable social benefits and economical ones as we try to renovate the once damaged area with green and renewable energy.
“We are glad that we are making joint efforts with Ukraine to rebuild the community for the local people.”
With access to the area still strictly limited, hazardous area equipment is likely to be at the heart of the deployment, while some of the pre-existing systems for transmitting the electricity out of the area are still in place from the 1980s.
