Carrington Power Station – GT26 Unit 2 ATEX Inspections
Milaco Engineering restructured the ATEX inspection programme at ESB Carrington Power Station, aligning inspections of its GT26 gas turbines with planned outages to improve equipment access, defect management and opportunities for remedial works.
- Client
- ESB
- Sector
- Power Generation
- Location
- Greater Manchester
- Completed
- August 2025
- Duration
- 5 Weeks
The challenge
An Inspection Programme That Needed Rethinking
The existing inspection programme scheduled both GT26 turbines within the same year, placing pressure on outage resources and delaying opportunities to address defects before equipment returned to service.
What we did
Restructuring Inspections Around Operations
Milaco redesigned the three-year inspection programme, aligning each turbine's inspections with its planned outage and introducing digital reporting to communicate findings while equipment remained accessible.
The result
Better Planning. Earlier Action. Improved Compliance.
A more manageable inspection programme, reduced pressure on station resources and earlier identification of defects, allowing corrective maintenance to be planned before the turbines returned to service.
In detail
Transforming the Inspection Programme at Carrington Power Station
In August 2025, Milaco Engineering commenced a three-year hazardous area electrical inspection contract at ESB Carrington Power Station, covering approximately 2,500 electrical assets across two Alstom GT26 gas turbine units and associated plant.
A Different Approach to Inspection Planning
Following a review of the existing arrangements, Milaco identified an opportunity to improve how inspections were scheduled.
Previously, both turbines were included within the same inspection year, creating unnecessary pressure on engineering resources during planned outages.
Milaco restructured the programme to separate the two turbines into different inspection years, aligning inspections with their respective maintenance outages. This allowed inspection resources to be better distributed and improved opportunities to address defects while equipment remained accessible.
Unit 2 – August 2025 C Outage
The first phase focused on Unit 2 during its scheduled C outage.
Inspections were undertaken in accordance with BS EN 60079-17 across the GT26 gas turbine enclosure, generator, hydrogen compound, hydrogen dryer systems, seal oil installations and associated fuel gas systems.
Digital Inspections & Earlier Reporting
Using Milaco's digital inspection management system, engineers recorded equipment-specific inspection findings, photographic evidence and non-conformances.
Rather than waiting until the outage was complete, findings were communicated throughout the inspection programme, allowing station engineers to review defects and coordinate corrective maintenance while equipment remained accessible.
This approach established a more integrated relationship between hazardous area inspections, maintenance planning and remedial works.
“Milaco delivered an engineering inspection service that meets the highest level of quality we expect. This is evident with the level of expertise, safety and support, including the fast and efficient delivery of required services to meet tight site schedules.”