We have continued to work with our clients, McConnell Dowell and Decmil, on the major asset relocations required for the new Mordialloc Bypass, connecting the Mornington Peninsula Freeway to the Dingley Bypass.

The project comprises 9km of freeway with bridges over wetland areas, several grade-separated interchanges and a cycling and walking path. Our role has involved relocation of HV (22kV and 66kV) and LV assets for six locations/sites along the 9km bypass, including electrical concept designs, lighting designs, electrical asset relocation design and electrical PM.

The freeway will be completed by late 2021, improving travel times and easing congestion in Melbourne’s south east.

We have successfully delivered the Cherry Tree Wind Farm project for our client, Beon, who have given great feedback on our work.

The project was particularly complex, requiring design for a 66kV line running for approximately 7km, connecting the wind farm to the AusNet grid. A river crossing span was included in the design, with our team liasing with AusNet to finalise the scope and meet regulations, and the complexity of the structure requiring 3D structures to prove the design.

Our survey team also worked hard in rough site conditions to complete the survey component, pegging 70 poles in difficult terrain.

The success of the project is a great example not only of our internal teams working seamlessly together, but our skill in bringing satisfactory outcomes for multiple stakeholders through these complex projects. Well done team.

 

We are excited to be supporting Hatch and CPB to deliver the Cross River Rail project in Queensland – a new 10.2 km rail line from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, including 5.9 km of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and CBD. Our role will be to develop lighting designs for forecourts, car parks and roads around the four new underground stations delivered by the project at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street.

We have been working with our clients, BMD and Cardno, on the upgrade of Hallam Road, extending from Ormond Road to the South Gippsland Highway – one of the state government’s major road projects.

Involving public lighting design, major asset relocation of HV and LV assets, and major underground designs, we have worked closely with AusNet Services and stakeholders to overcome issues relating to the protection of HV customers affected by the project. A key aspect of our role has been design for installation of HV switch cabinet with ACR to comply with AusNet Services protection requirement.

We have been a key delivery partner to Gumbuya World from the start of their expansion works, designing and project managing construction of their required power upgrade. In 2019 Gumbuya again engaged us to complete design and PM, this time to meet the increased capacity needed for their phase 2 expansions.

The project came with some significant challenges and tight timeframes as the feasibility study identified the surrounding network would not be able to deliver the maximum demand of the park. Very clever thinking by our design team led to the recommission of an out-of-service 132kV transmission line, resulting in a safe and cost-effective design solution for the client.

Multiple stakeholders, land access negotiations, material supply issues and undocumented third-party assets also challenged our team and required onsite solutions to ensure the schedule was not affected. The project was successfully delivered in October and the park opened as planned in the first week of November. This was an excellent result for our team, and acknowledgment must also go to Clint Mayberry, Power Cables Pty Ltd, Timco, Prasinus Energy Services, AusNet Services Customer Projects Lilydale who worked alongside us.

In a great step for our business, Powerplant will now be providing contestable design services to customers on the NSW electrical network, having been accredited by the NSW government as an Authorised Service Provider (ASP)

Our ASP Level 3 (Design services) accreditation required us to provide a significant amount of detail on the relevant experience of a number of our designers, including five years proven experience working in the electrical network area, detailed CVs and signed acknowledgement from Victorian DBs of each individuals time in the industry.

Matt Doggett has been accredited for underground design, and Greg Plant, Kambiz Kashef and James Kerner have been accredited for both overhead and underground design.

This is an exciting time of expansion for our business and we look forward to growing our experience and client base in NSW.