Technical Consultants - 9 April 1998
[ Last Updated 13 January 2006 ]
The Ministerial Inquiry into the Auckland Power Supply Failure today announced that they have engaged Integral Energy Australia as consultants to provide the technical report as required under the Ministerial terms of reference.
The consultants will prepare technical reports on two aspects:
- Review the distribution planning that gave rise to the installation and ongoing management of the assets that failed.
- The causes of the cable failures themselves.
The contract was awarded to Integral Energy Australia, a state owned corporation pursuant to the State Owned Corporation Act 1989 (NSW).
Integral Energy distributes and retails electricity across a franchise area spanning 24,500 square kilometres in Sydney’s Greater West, the Illawarra and Southern Highlands regions. Integral Energy has the planning, operation and maintenance responsibility for more than 4,000 km of high and low voltage underground cables within its franchise network.
The underground cable experts participating in the Inquiry have more than 40 years of combined experience working with cables similar to those used by Mercury Energy.
The team will be managed by Jeff Allen, General Manager Integral Energy. Mr Allen has 35 years experience within the electricity supply industry. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and holds the office of Chairman of the National Committee on Electrical Energy. He is currently responsible for the overall planning, design, development, construction, maintenance and operation of Integral Energy’s electrical network from the grid exit points to customer meters.
Michael Tamp is the team leader for the review of the distribution planning. He has 20 years experience in the electricity supply industry, both with TransGrid at the transmission level and with Integral Energy at the distribution level. Mr Tamp is presently the convenor of the NSW Electricity Industry, Demand Side Management Code Working Group and has been a member of the ESAA Reliability Subcommittee of the Planning, Operations and Control Committee who prepared the SAA Guidelines for Reliability Assessment Planning. He will bring this strong background and credibility in planning issues to the project.
Michael Tamp will be working in association with Ty Christopher, Asset Strategy Manager South, Integral Energy. Mr Christopher is at present responsible for the Asset Management of Integral Energy’s Transmission and Distribution network.
The team leader for the investigation of the technical aspects of the work on the cable failure will be Henry Kent. Mr Kent is currently Manager Transmission Mains, responsible for the management of the branch involved in the design, construction and maintenance of Integral Energy’s overhead and underground transmission system, including Survey and Mechanical Design. He has 27 years experience in the planning, design, asset management, maintenance and construction of transmission and distribution system infrastructure and components.
Mr Kent will work in association with Mr George Bucea who is TransGrid’s Senior Engineer HV Underground Cable Projects. Mr Bucea is responsible for the design, route investigation, specification and contract administration of HV cable installations up to and including 330kV, throughout TransGrid’s transmission system.
Both Mr Kent and Mr Bucea are recognised internationally for their knowledge of high voltage insulated cables. They are both members of the International Conference on Large High Voltage Electric Systems (CIGRE). CIGRE is an international organisation founded in France in 1921. The objective of CIGRE is the development of technical knowledge and information exchange between countries regarding generation and high voltage transmission of electricity.
The technical consultants commenced work in New Zealand this week. They are required to complete their work by the end of April.
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