RENEWABLE ENERGY

MV Collectors are necessary infrastructure for the transference of renewable energy harnessed by wind turbines to the grid and ultimately to the consumer.

APD’s engineers specialise in the design and commissioning of wind farms with collector systems that minimize electrical losses while performing reliably and safely. From the wind turbine foundation to the utility tie-in point, and supported by our significant experience in HV substations and earthing,

APD has the best in-house design capabilities in the country.

COMPLETE SYSTEMS

APD can specify and design wind turbine ring main switchgear and transformers, medium voltage reticulation cable networks, fibre optic communications networks, earthing and lightning protection, collector substations, and high voltage transmission lines.

RESOURCE ANALYSIS

APD’s experienced wind farm engineers can interpret complex meteorological and Nominal Wind Distribution (NWD) data, and make comparisons against wind turbine performance curves to calculate the averaged power output over the farm’s lifetime.

LOSS MINIMISATION

A typical farm will lose up to $1M per year in electrical losses through the collector system and a key metric that developers look at when considering a proposal.

APD specialise in size selection of appropriate cables or conductors to suit the economic model of any wind farm.

CABLE OPTIMIZATION

APD has the tools, knowledge & experience necessary to ensure the wind farm is developed with the absolute minimum amount of trenching and cabling.

EARTHING

Wind Turbines require large copper earthing systems and APD are able to ensure safe optimisation.

APD has solar engineers who are experts in not only design and engineering, but in the entire life cycle of solar power stations. With technology improving, the cost-effective farms are becoming more heavily dependent on minimising labour rates and durations.

APD understand how to design farms that minimise build, operational and maintenance activities.

SITE ANALYSIS:

APD can perform detailed evaluation of various PV panel types, efficiencies and configure the optimum PV arrangement, minimising shadow casts for times of day as well as different axis tilts.

TECHNOLOGY:

APD design fixed, dual and single tracking axis arrays. More typically suited to Australian climates, the latter provide some tracking but smaller land footprint (larger yield), lower operating cost & capital expenditure.

POWER CONVERSION UNITS (PCU’S):

APD can evaluate inverters (Centralised or String) in order to ensure the most efficient DC to AC conversion to the grid.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE & DEGRADATION:

The performance of a solar farm is dependent on the weather conditions, efficiency of the equipment selected, their performance degradation over time and the PV Array configuration designed.

APD are able to model the entire life cycle performance ratio of the solar farms, fine tune the input parameters as well as then verify the system performance through on-line testing.

ASSET MANAGEMENT / OPERATE & MAINTAIN (AM/O&M):

APD can define the planned asset inspection regimes, budgets, performance monitoring as well as O&M activities in order to ensure cost minimisation and reliable asset performance.

Our power system team have extensive experience in providing specialised engineering services to a wide range of clients, from
new network connections studies to network expansion planning, operation optimisation and transient stability analysis.

Equipped with the latest software and test / measurement devices, we have the knowledge, experience and capability to undertake highly specialised studies that involve power stations, transmission and distribution networks, and internal facility / building reticulation.

We have assisted the clients at various stages of the project, from the high-level conceptual plan through to the detailed design to on-site testing, system analysis and documentation for T&D utilities across Australia.

APD are one of Australia’s leading HV substation design companies, with one of the largest number of experienced HV staff and capability nationally.

Our staff are a group of seasoned professionals, who have worked together on many projects around Australia, providing proven practical experience.

With full in-house Australian capability across all disciplines of primary, secondary, SCADA, communications, protection, civil / structural, testing & commissioning.

Our know-how also covers the sub-disciplines that include package integration from vendors such as ABB, GE, Alstom, Siemens etc.

APD also provide ancillary services such as Environmental, Drainage, Geo-technical, Survey, Fire, Hydraulics, Security and Mechanical services.

APD completed more than 2,000km of Line Design in the past financial year.

We are one of Australia’s leading power line engineering companies with more than 60 line design engineers across Australia.

Our proven track record to adapt to local standards through a first principle understanding of power line design with HV projects is shown with delivery on the Essential Energy, Endeavour Energy, ActewAGL, Horizon Power, Western Power, Rio Tinto and BHP networks.

We have full in-house capability, with a team comprising of Electrical, Civil and Structural Engineers. The APD power line team have also spent time in construction and review the designs for infield constructability.

APD provide the complete range of on-site high voltage (HV) field testing & commissioning services to verify and certify equipment operation and system functionality prior to energisation.

Our testing method ensures that the business operation remains uninterrupted by performing all testing services in a manner that eliminates the need for costly system outages.

Our commissioning engineers are very familiar with the design, operation and settings requirements for most recognised device manufacturers, for example General Electric, ALSTOM (formerly AREVA), SIEMENS, SEL, ABB, Schneider, RMS etc.

APD’s Earthing team have proven experience in Green / Brownfield projects and completed detailed designs, verification & compliance testing, installation and commissioning activities for a wide range of clients, from utilities (transmission and distribution) through to mining, land development and railway sectors.

Our specialists are actively involved in global technical societies (EESA, EECON, DTEC). APD have an alliance partnership with the CDEGS developer, SESTech Pty Ltd, the world Leader in Earthing, Lightning and Electromagnetic Interference, providing liaison and technical support on Australian based projects.

EPC:

APD provide the full range of engineering, procurement capability and leverage from our industry recognized construction partners. With engineering at our core, APD can take the risk out of projects and deliver efficient and compliant turnkey solutions.

LIDAR:

We have the capability to perform full 3D LiDAR surveys in order to acquire asset data that is invaluable for large scale brownfield network extensions.

3D ASSET MANAGEMENT:

Combined with our capability to obtain 3D LiDAR asset information, APD are able to create asset management databases, identify defects registers, perform risk ratings and engineering rectification plans and solutions.

CIVIL & STRUCTURAL DESIGN:

APD have Principal Civil and Structural engineers who specialise in power line towers, foundations, substation structures as well as internal road designs.

COST ESTIMATION:

With APD’s extensive national experience, we are able to provide detailed cost estimation for projects in order to help establish budgets and firm clarity on options assessments.

3D MODELLING:

APD possess highly specialised capabilities that allow us to model accurately in 3D all of our projects. This skill provides a major benefit to brownfield network augmentations where space is limited and constructability review for access and clearances can be conducted prior to any extensive site mobilisation costs. With APD’s extensive project portfolio, we now have a vast collection of 3D asset libraries which enable us to quickly assemble 3D concept model even at tender stages.

CONSTRUCTABILITY REVIEW:

We pride ourselves on our practical engineering solutions. We focus heavily on the practical aspects of site conditions and safety clearances and always perform a constructability review on our projects. This has been so successful that now we are often engaged to perform this function of both review and later site compliance for projects around Australia.

E&I:

APD have experienced Electrical & Instrumentation staff who are experienced in control systems of complicated processes and plants from concept to implementation, optimisation and site commissioning.

CONSTRUCTION & PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

We provide more than just engineering solutions. We have experienced Construction Managers and Project Managers within our organisation who can provide QA/QC and project compliance roles throughout the life-cycle of a project.

TENDER SPECIFICATIONS:

APD are able to create functional specifications for tenders as well as entire tender D&C documentation. We also often provide works package creation and tender evaluation services for our clients. This way we ensure that price points and exclusions are able to be evaluated to their true price and risk ratings.

SCADA & COMMS:

Our SCADA & Communications engineers have the experience and capability to deliver the latest substation automation concepts for remote operation (incl. IEC61850).

GENERATOR COMPLIANCE:

APD generator compliance testing ensuring conformity to regulatory and commercial requirements. We will undertake high voltage testing and appraisal of critical control systems for life-time compliance, event investigation and system monitoring.

Our HV electrical power testing is designed to verify stability and performance, preventing connection of plant with inherent design or commissioning defects and events such as generator instability or trips at times of system stress.