Menzel Great Britain has provided 10 seven-ton electric motors to the UK water utility company Thames Water, which serves 16 million customers across London and the Thames Valley.
This strategic motor replacement is crucial to extend the lifespan of a key water treatment plant by 10 years and secure the water supply to the Greater London area.
Menzel won the contract for its economic, well-thought-out concept.
The high-lift pump station at the Coppermills Water Treatment Works had experienced repeated failures, mainly due to the age of the existing equipment.
As Thames Water is planning to build a new station in about 10 years, the utility company put out a tender for an economic drive solution to ensure reliable operation of the existing pumps in the interim. Other OEMs suggested costly variable-frequency drives (VFDs), which would have required major building reconstruction to accommodate control systems and transformers. Menzel proposed slip ring motors that are compatible with the existing installation and use the electric infrastructure and starting equipment already in place.
The state-of-the-art motors are superior to the original motors with nearly 5% increased efficiency, greater ease of maintenance and an expected lifespan of at least 25 years.
The motor engineers worked closely with the project team of Thames Water’s contractor MWH Treatment.
The 10 new motors have a shaft height of 500 mm and are designed for vertical mounting on the pumps. Six of the motors feature the cooling type IC 81W (air-to-water heat exchanger) and four IC 611 (air-to-air heat exchanger). They provide IP55 ingress protection, operate at 3300 V and, between the different models, provide outputs of 746 kW or 343 kW and rated torques of 12075 Nm or 5551 Nm.
This project earned Menzel a place in the finals for the 2025 AEMT Awards of the Association of Electrical and Mechanical Trades.
Economic tailor-made pump motors for London water supply
