Minimising site shutdowns and construction duration through innovative design

Kalgan’s Rest Service Upgrade

Kalgan’s Rest is home to a large mining camp—when major electrical tripping issues caused significant disruptions, our Electrical Mining team was engaged to investigate.

A brownfield site with limited information available made investigations difficult. However, we conducted site visits and data logging to develop a model of the existing site electrical infrastructure, including power and harmonic load flows. This determined the cause of the nuisance tripping from power quality issues due to camp expansion and air conditioning upgrades, creating overloading in the power network when air conditioning use was at its peak.

The information gathered from the models and load flows was used to specify harmonic filtering, and a detailed design was developed for the integration of the new filters. Our design allowed the installation of the upgrades to be installed with minimal interruption to the residents, though new cabling was difficult, due to brown site constraints. We also worked with a harmonic filter supplier to develop a housing suitable to the harsh Pilbara climate.

The work stopped the tripping, significantly improving living conditions and reducing the burden on the site maintenance personnel. The site now meets the statutory requirements for power quality requirements of the network operator.