Aiden

5.45 AM

Alarm goes off, I wake up and get my things ready for work… IT’S FRIDAY!

6.00 AM

Jump in the car for a short 15-minute drive to the Virginia head office in Brisbane, park onsite, swipe my access card a few times and I’m in ready for the day. Morning workout at the onsite gym facilities and I have the whole place to myself this morning, Sweet! Quick shower and get changed and ready for work.

7.25 AM

I start my day in the office, replying to emails and completing my routine task of assessing and keeping records of any commissioned/de-commissioned configuration/firmware changes to specific secondary systems equipment that have been logged as change requests.

From here my day often varies between:

• Working in the test centre – generally building Remote Terminal Unit panels used to test the functionality of the new EMS.
• Training - recent training has included secondary circuit isolation, CT isolation and earthing procedures, and implementation of secondary systems works programs.
• Heading out to the site with secondary systems support engineers on active projects.

Today I’m doing the latter.

8.00 AM

Drive out to a Powerlink substation near Ipswich with the Secondary Systems Support Engineer, Commissioning Manager, and Project Manager responsible for the project along with another graduate engineer undertaking their rotation in commissioning. The aim of the trip being to scope out and run through the Secondary Systems works to be carried out on-site in the upcoming weeks.

9.00 AM

After a quick breakfast detour we arrive on site, check in with Network Operations, and have a hazard assessment conversation breaking down the works to be completed, the hazards present and the risks associated.

9.30 AM

We begin by identifying the plant to be worked on and confirming that the current state of works on site match current records followed by a few short online meetings.

11.00 AM

The commissioning manager gave me a brief rundown on the previous works undertaken on site, both out in the switchyard and within the control buildings. We discussed the differences between various substation design standards implemented across the control rooms, outlining the importance of the key differences and evolution of substation design particularly focusing on secondary systems and telecommunications design.

12.30 PM

We ran through the works program step-by-step identifying any issues present and making minor changes where necessary. This showed me the importance of getting out to the site before work is commenced to identify nuances that may alter the flow of work or unseen issues that may require alternate precautions.

2.30 PM

We check out of the substation and head off back to the office stopping in quickly for a late lunch on the way home.

4.00 PM

Time to knock off for the day. 4.00 pm is a great time to finish to avoid the bulk of traffic, right in between school pickup at 3.00 pm and typical 5.00 pm traffic. Quick meal prep for dinner and take Alfie for an off-lead walk along the river praying he doesn’t jump in the mud…. He jumped in the mud.

7.00 PM

Quiet Friday night dinner at home and then struggle to find a movie to watch for half an hour before inevitably settling on the first one we originally looked at and finally off to bed.

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