Iraqi contractor keeps the lights on for COB Basra

Photo By Sgt. Benjamin Kibbey | Ismael Shaker, owner and founder of Al Harith, a contracting company in Basrah...... read more read more

Photo By Sgt. Benjamin Kibbey | Ismael Shaker, owner and founder of Al Harith, a contracting company in Basrah province, Iraq, explains the maintenance schedule for the power station near Living Support Area Viking on Contingency Operatin Base Basra. The manufacturer recommended schedule is every 400 hours, Shaker said, but when the entire base switched to using only JP8 diesel, they went to 250 hours. "It is a dry fuel, this one," he said. "Definitely it will destroy the injection pumps." (Photo by: Sgt. Benjamin R. Kibbey)  see less | View Image Page

BASRA, IRAQ

12.18.2009

Courtesy Story

Multi-National Division-South

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Story by: Sgt. Benjamin R. Kibbey

COB BASRA, Iraq — Soldiers who haven't deployed before, or who only recently arrived at Contingency Operating Base Basra, may not give much thought to the constant electricity, hot showers and well lit avenues. But, that kind of thing doesn't happen easily, and it is thanks in no small part to an Iraqi company, Al Harith, that Contingency Operating Base Basra hums along so smoothly.

Al Harith founder and owner Ismael Shaker, a petrochemical engineer by training, has been running Al Harith since he and his partner founded it 18 years ago.

He started the business with his friend of 32 years, back when Iraq was going through a very different rebuilding. Like many Iraqis, he sees opportunity and hope this time around that never existed before.

Looking at the projects he and the engineers and technicians of Al Harith have completed on COB Basra, it's easy to see the promise for the future of the country that they embody.

The power plant that supplies Viking and Sandstorm Living Support Areas on COB Basra was inherited from the British.

The eight generators that comprise the plant were at three different locations when the British owned them, including the old British headquarters at the Basrah International Airport Hotel.

But, the British couldn't get them to work properly due to technical issues. In order to access the computerized system that synchronizes the generators, they needed a password, and they had issues with getting the Italian company that sold them the units to cooperate.

When Al Harith first took over the generators at Camp Abunaji, Shaker saw an additional problem, but not what it was. When the Al Harith engineers looked at the system, they realized the generators had no manifolds to prevent air bubbles in the fuel line. So, Shaker had the manifolds created in one of his workshops.

It didn't solve the entire problem, but may have prevented quite a few future ones, he said.

"When the air, from the bubbling, gets to the feed pumps," he said, "the generator will fail."

Finally, when it came time to install the generators near LSA Viking, Al Harith was able to contact the Italian company and found out the agreement necessitating the password had expired.

So, with a little technical know how from their engineers, they cracked the system and were able to set it up to operate how it was intended.

"This was a big challenge for us, because when you are dealing with software, you must have the know how and you must have the software," said Mundir Muhammad, chief engineer for the power station. "But, fortunately, we can deal with this."

Al Harith employs electrical and mechanical engineers as well as technicians at the site 24 hours a day, they perform the regular checks and monitor the power output.

With one day off a week and their bunks a few feet from where they work, they have a similar life to the military personnel on the base.

There is a crew of eight to 10 engineers and technicians living at each LSA on COB Basra, Shaker said.

In addition, they have a support crew from the company headquarters for pumping, carpentry and steelwork, Muhammad said.

"I have 30 years experience in power generation in the government and private sector," he said, "so I am familiar with this kind of generator, steam generators, gas turbine: all kinds of power generation types."

Still, operating a computerized station of this size was a new experience for some of the engineers, he said.

"Here [Iraq], we deal with mainly non-computerized power stations," Muhammad said. "Of course, we have individual diesel generators, computerized also, outside the camp."

Most generators that Jafar Abdullah, an electrical engineer from Basrah, has worked on were single generators, though often much larger than the eight that comprise the power station here, he said. So, the issue of synchronizing generators was a new one for him.

However, the reliance on computers to synchronize and monitor the generators actually simplifies much of the work.

"The design of these generators makes it simpler to get better performance out of them," Abdullah said.

The system is almost maintenance free, said Muhammad. Still, they have to stay on top of draining water from the system and checking the clarity of the oil.

"We perform preventative maintenance every 250 operating hours [approximately 12-14 days]" he said. "We stop the generator, change the filter, check the oil and all the other preventative maintenance items."

If the regularly scheduled service is delayed even a little, it can do irreparable damage to the generators, said Staff Sgt. Kris Lemm, contracting office representative, mayor's cell, from Browerville, Minn., especially since the base switched to the much less clean burning JP8 diesel. This can literally takes years off of the projected lifespan of the equipment.

So, the Al Harith engineers take the maintenance schedule very seriously, and the computerized system simplifies this.

"If we need to make service on one of these generators, we don't have to separate the power," Abdullah said. "It's much simpler."

It doesn't hurt that one of the eight generators by itself can produce more power than is needed for the current load. This means that only two generators are ever required — the second to keep power going while the other is serviced.

Now that they have the generators set up and functioning, plans are in the works to power additional parts of the COB from the one station, said Muhammad.

Even when they expand the area powered by the generators to include the nearby Post Exchange complex, the one generator still won't pass 40% of its capacity, said Muhammad.

"We now have steady power, and we made the calculations, and I think we will achieve it," he said.

Lemm, who spent 15 of his 22 years (so far) in the military as an instructor at the Regional Training Site for Maintenance at Camp Ripley, Minn., has high praise for the work Al Harith does.

"I taught small arms, to rebuilding engines, to rebuilding tanks to doing fire control systems repair," Lemm said, "and none of that helped me as much as these guys did on teaching me on what they do."

Lemm represents Al Harith's contract through the Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan.

"Water, power and fuel covers a lot of work all over this COB," he said. "On average, I get a list of about 50 different things that they have fixed for Task Force Safe every day."

The difference Shaker has made on COB Basra is obvious at every turn, Lemm said.

"This was a very dark COB, now he takes care of putting light everywhere; this was a very unorganized and unsafe COB, and they go every single place and rewire all the unsafe things," he said.

"It's a long list of everything they do," Lemm said. "Where there is no heat, they put heat; where there is no air conditioning, they put air conditioning; where there is need of more fuel tanks because they have added more stuff, he has his welding team making more fuel tanks every day."

With years of experience behind him and years of work ahead of him, Shaker takes all the compliments with an easy smile.

Three years is the time he gives for when he expects things will truly stabilize in Iraq, and his otherwise fatigued but calm eyes light up when Lemm mentions how many Iraqis Al Harith employs on COB Basra.

"Over 460 workers are busy all the day," said Shaker with a smile, "and that's good. That's very good."