Business South October 2020

Contact us on 0800 66 11 77 or visit www.alpineenergy.co.nz Alpine Energy is owned by the South Canterbury community, providing an environmentally-friendly electricity distribution network to over 30,000 customers throughout the region, as well as an ultra fibre network, fast-charging stations for EV's, and commercial battery storage. South Canterbury community focus Every year we work with individuals, clubs, groups, trusts & community organisations and sports clubs helping financially to make their dreams reality. OCEANIA DAIRY ASKED , ALPINE ENERGY DELIVERED cessing plant consisted of four main design and construction parts: ● 12 kilometres of 33 kV overhead lines from Alpine’s Bells Pond substation to the site, ● Construction of a zone substation at the site, ● Significant upgrades at the Bells Pond substa- tion, ● On-site 11 kV reticulation network. The last part of the project needed to be con- structed in parallel with all civil and structural construction on site. “The upgrade at our Bells Pond substation comprised the installation of a 33 kV circuit breaker to supply the overhead line to the dairy processing plant on Cooneys Road,” explains Willem. “In order to allow for future upgrades we decided to install the equipment rated for 110 kV but initially only operating at 33 kV. These assets were commissioned in August 2013.” The overhead line route necessitated Alpine Energy to construct this part of the project in the winter (dairy o season) of 2013 because the power to a large number of dairy farms along the route would be interrupted during construc- tion. “In November 2012 we received a letter from ODL stating they wanted to commission the dairy plant in May 2014 and required electrical power to be available by March 2014,” says Wil- lem Rawlins, Alpine Energy spokesperson. “That allowed only 16 months and we hadn’t received any formal application for a power supply to site and therefore we had no contract in place to start any works.” Representatives from Alpine Energy met with directors of Yili Group—the Chinese owner of ODL—and their consultants to discuss the power supply. “ODL were advised that in order to make their timeframes we would have to procure plant and materials so that construction could be under- taken during the winter of 2013.” Constructing power supply to the dairy pro- In October 2012 Alpine Energy was approached by Oceania Dairy Ltd (ODL) to discuss a pow- er supply of around 10MW to their proposed dairy-processing site near Glenavy. The location of the proposed plant was some 12 kilometres from Alpine Energy’s Bells Pond substation—the nearest source of any substan- tial electrical power supply. “This le us with only six months to complete the line design, procure poles, insulators and conductor,” says Willem. “Since no power poles for this design were available in New Zealand, we sent our senior line designer to Australia to inspect and secure a pole supply contract from Australian suppliers.” The zone substation at Oceania consists of a 15 MVA power transformer to convert the electrical power from 33 kV to 11 kV, which is then reticu- lated around the site. In addition, a 33 kV outdoor circuit breaker and an 11kV switchboard with associated electrical protection and metering system was installed in an indoor switch-room. The on-site 11 kV reticulation system comprised 11 ring main units (11 kV electrical switches) connecting five 1.5 MVA, three 1 MVA, two 750 kVA, one 500 kVA and one 300 kVA distribution transformers, while allowing for future expan- sion. “The reticulation network was designed and constructed as two main ring supplies to allow for redundancy. The zone substation was commissioned and livened on 13 March 2014 and the on-site 11 kV reticulation followed on 31 March 2014.