Secreting a 700-Ton Load on Iraqi Roads
'Mother of All Generators' Reaches Electrical Plant After Slow, Circuitous Journey
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 11, 2005; Page A16
OUTSIDE KIRKUK, Iraq, April 10 -- Altogether, it weighs more than 700 tons and is affectionately known as "MOAG," or the "Mother of All Generators."
The gigantic, German-built piece of machinery required a U.S. military escort to reach its new home: a U.S.-financed electrical power plant going up outside Kirkuk, an oil center in northern Iraq.
In what U.S. officials describe as one of the most logistically complex operations of the Iraqi reconstruction effort, the 260-megawatt combustion turbine generator was transported 640 miles -- including a 240-mile detour around a destroyed bridge -- from the Jordanian border through Anbar province, a vast western region that is a hotbed of the anti-American insurgency.
Planning for the trip started in September and was kept secret. The huge generator set out in a 30-vehicle convoy on March 21, officials said.
Moving at the molasses pace of 5 mph, it reached its destination April 2.
On its journey, the convoy was protected by armored personnel carriers, Humvees, engineering equipment and helicopters, officials said. At any one time, about 250 to 300 U.S. military personnel were involved in supporting the generator's passage through Iraq.
"It did require a lot of coordination," said John Pennell, deputy director of the infrastructure office of the U.S. Agency for International Development. "Security was definitely a concern."
USAID is overseeing the $178 million project to construct the power plant, which will generate 325 megawatts of power.
The U.S. agency invited reporters to visit the plant, which is not yet completed, but asked them not to publicize its exact location because of security concerns. Infrastructure projects have been a favored target of insurgents.
The V94 generator, built by Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate, is scheduled to become operational in mid-September.
It will put 260 megawatts into Iraq's power-starved electrical grid, increasing the amount of power available by about 6 percent, based on the grid's current generation levels.
A smaller generator at the site that was fired up in January already is providing 65 megawatts. Both generators are fueled by natural gas piped in from the nearby oil fields.
The Ministry of Electricity will take over operation of the plant in September, officials said.
The transport vehicle that carried the disassembled generator and turbine, covered in huge white tarps, had 120 tires.
It was accompanied by graders, rollers and a sleeping trailer for the truck drivers. Advance teams were sent to fix roads that had uneven surfaces, including some with bomb craters. Overhead electrical wires were moved, and bridges were reinforced for the huge load.
Pennell said the generator arrived without incident because, "first, it was very well protected and, second, there was a little uncertainty about what it was."
When the generator rolled into the power plant at 11:37 p.m. on April 2, "you could feel the relief in the air," recalled one plant official who declined to be named.
'Mother of All Generators' Reaches Electrical Plant After Slow, Circuitous Journey
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 11, 2005; Page A16
OUTSIDE KIRKUK, Iraq, April 10 -- Altogether, it weighs more than 700 tons and is affectionately known as "MOAG," or the "Mother of All Generators."
The gigantic, German-built piece of machinery required a U.S. military escort to reach its new home: a U.S.-financed electrical power plant going up outside Kirkuk, an oil center in northern Iraq.
In what U.S. officials describe as one of the most logistically complex operations of the Iraqi reconstruction effort, the 260-megawatt combustion turbine generator was transported 640 miles -- including a 240-mile detour around a destroyed bridge -- from the Jordanian border through Anbar province, a vast western region that is a hotbed of the anti-American insurgency.
Planning for the trip started in September and was kept secret. The huge generator set out in a 30-vehicle convoy on March 21, officials said.
Moving at the molasses pace of 5 mph, it reached its destination April 2.
On its journey, the convoy was protected by armored personnel carriers, Humvees, engineering equipment and helicopters, officials said. At any one time, about 250 to 300 U.S. military personnel were involved in supporting the generator's passage through Iraq.
"It did require a lot of coordination," said John Pennell, deputy director of the infrastructure office of the U.S. Agency for International Development. "Security was definitely a concern."
USAID is overseeing the $178 million project to construct the power plant, which will generate 325 megawatts of power.
The U.S. agency invited reporters to visit the plant, which is not yet completed, but asked them not to publicize its exact location because of security concerns. Infrastructure projects have been a favored target of insurgents.
The V94 generator, built by Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate, is scheduled to become operational in mid-September.
It will put 260 megawatts into Iraq's power-starved electrical grid, increasing the amount of power available by about 6 percent, based on the grid's current generation levels.
A smaller generator at the site that was fired up in January already is providing 65 megawatts. Both generators are fueled by natural gas piped in from the nearby oil fields.
The Ministry of Electricity will take over operation of the plant in September, officials said.
The transport vehicle that carried the disassembled generator and turbine, covered in huge white tarps, had 120 tires.
It was accompanied by graders, rollers and a sleeping trailer for the truck drivers. Advance teams were sent to fix roads that had uneven surfaces, including some with bomb craters. Overhead electrical wires were moved, and bridges were reinforced for the huge load.
Pennell said the generator arrived without incident because, "first, it was very well protected and, second, there was a little uncertainty about what it was."
When the generator rolled into the power plant at 11:37 p.m. on April 2, "you could feel the relief in the air," recalled one plant official who declined to be named.