HOW BOLINA PRODUCTS HELP PROTECT HYDRO ASSETS
A focus on Bolina Safety, Security and Environment solutions to protect hydro assets.
As the world moves towards greater protection of its hydro assets, with increased legislation and regulations in place for our oceans and freshwater sources (including groundwater and rivers), it is essential for companies and communities to work together to find ways to protect and secure these assets as they will be critical in the fight against climate change and meeting the needs of growing populations around the world.
At Bolina, we work closely with our partners and clients to create solutions that will answer their needs and solve their problems. In particular, we focus on three key segments: Safety, Security and Environment, with our products used in ecosystems and environments ranging from water reservoirs to river systems, all the way through to coastal mangroves and seacoasts. For each of these segments, we have products geared towards specific operational needs.
SAFETY
Bolina Safety Booms have been used on a number of different installations, such as treatment plants, reservoirs and dams around the world, with one installation at Lake Lyell near Lithgow in New South Wales, Australia, successfully protecting the dam and keeping water users away. The dam is situated close to a campground and recreation park, so protection is of crucial importance.
Bolina Safety Booms were chosen because of their robustness and durability – they cannot be sailed over due to their buoyancy and cannot be lifted up easily due to their weight. The booms have been designed to create a safety barrier that will prevent event the smallest craft from passing through.
Our entire range of safety booms have been deployed on projects across the world, and have proven effective in providing safer waterways by reducing the risk to the public at critical sites. Our safety booms are the preferred choice for organisations such as Staatsbosbeheer, Thames Water and the UK’s Environment Agency.
SECURITY
Bolina Security Booms have been deployed for the protection of assets that are essential for the functioning of society and economy, such as airports, ports, power stations and other critical sites and situations. They have been used across several high-profile projects around the world with a successful performance (G20 Summit, London 2012 Olympics, London City Airport).
Bolina worked a couple of years back with KBR and Chevron in Nigeria to increase security of their assets and prevent piracy attacks. The security booms provide effective protection thanks to their tubular backbones, which makes them capable of withstanding loads in excess of 50 tonnes. They come with rotating steel spikes that discourage boats from trying to get over the booms by jumping the gaps between floats. They have been designed to dissipate energy generated at impact, while still remaining buoyant and in place, so as to help prevent follow up attacks.
ENVIRONMENT
The Bolina Debris Boom Range have been installed to protect hydro resources around the world, and they form an essential component towards having clean waterbodies as they help maintain and manage the accumulation of debris in waterways and waterbodies. If left unchecked, debris can pose several issues, ranging from damaging equipment and blocking intakes or outlets, through to causing flooding and pollution of surrounding areas.
This is why debris booms are a useful addition to any operator’s arsenal – these floating booms are designed to not only exclude or contain naturally occurring floating debris such as tree branches or seaweed/reeds, but they also effectively block man-made trash that might be floating in the waters.
This not only has the benefit of keeping waterways clean and potable, improve their efficiency and performance as less time and resources will be spent maintaining them, but they also protect critical infrastructure from disruption.
We have deployed Bolina Log Screen Booms to protect a high-profile hydroelectric power plant in Galicia, Spain. Our LSB600 boom was effective here in preventing heavy debris from accumulating on one side of the dam and blocking intake or outlet areas. This is but one project of this nature that we have carried out, with others in Zambia and Mozambique as well, where naturally occurring flooding can generate an exceptional volume of debris.