Alvin Li

7:00 AM

Kia ora! I’m Alvin and I’m usually based at Transpower’s Wellington office. Today, I woke up in Wairoa at a farm stay. I’m about to have breakfast and get ready for a site visit to Transpower’s Tuai Substation. It’s in a remote location and supplies electricity to Eastland Network, which is the local lines company that services just over 25,000 customers in Tairāwhiti (Gisborne/Wairoa).

I drove up yesterday in a Transpower vehicle with a colleague. My colleague, Steve Williams, is a Service Delivery Manager who has been with Transpower for 15 years and is based at our Palmerston North office. The drive from Palmy to our accommodation in Wairoa was smooth and a great chance to talk and learn from Steve.

Earlier in the year, Steve identified a need to reconfigure Tuai Substation. I was tasked with writing a scoping report for the work.

The way Tuai Substation is currently designed means a complete substation outage is often required for any maintenance work onsite. An outage is disruptive to local connections and impacts generators as well as locals who receive their electricity via the substation. The goal was to figure out how to change the substation layout so that in the future parts of the substation can remain online during maintenance work.

Today is the day for the reconfiguration. I’ll be observing our service providers, who manage and maintain the substation, undertake the work. I’m excited to see the outcomes defined in my report put into action.

8:00 AM

After breakfast and a check over emails, Steve and I travel to Tuai Substation. It’s a 30-minute drive from our accommodation. Luckily all the travel arrangements were sorted by our team administrator, so I just need to focus on getting from A to B.

8:30 AM

When we arrive at Tuai Substation, we’re greeted by the crew who will do the reconfiguration. They’ve already had their morning briefing, but I get the chance to conduct a health and safety briefing with Steve.

A safety briefing is important because there are a lot of risks at a substation.  It’s one thing to examine an electrical diagram on paper and another thing entirely to be standing a short distance from high voltage electricity. There are also slips, trips, and fall risks, especially with a lot of dangling equipment to navigate.

I’m able to conduct the safety briefing because I’ve completed the Substation Entry 2 (SE2) certificate. Everyone in our graduate programme completes it. The certificate means we’re competent to do general work unsupervised at a substation and we’re issued a master key to all the substations, which means we can enter a site without needing to request pre-approval. The certificate usually takes 2-3 months to complete.

9:00 AM

I flick through my report to refresh myself on the scope of today’s reconfiguration work. The report includes switching sequences, staged drawings, and protection scope.

Everything can be really close together inside a substation, which can be challenging when maintenance work needs to be carried out. My report outlines how to make changes so parts of the substation can be isolated for maintenance without impacting the whole substation.

I recall the rigorous approval process the report went through. After I drafted it, it was reviewed by the Service Delivery Manager, a Regional Service Manager and specialist engineers from our Operational Engineering team. Our onsite service providers were also involved and ultimately make the decision on how the reconfiguration will be implemented today.

10:00 AM

The reconfiguration work begins. All physical work at Transpower’s sites is done by contracted service providers. Transpower’s service providers have a depth of technical and practical experience. It’s great learning from them.

12:00 Noon

Everyone on site pauses to have lunch. I’ve brought my own, which I picked up from a supermarket the day before on the road trip up. Our wider work party for today have a diverse range of roles. There are electricians, a project manager, line mechanics, and an engineer. They also come from a diverse range of backgrounds, so it’s fun hearing about their experiences in life.

12:30 PM

Work resumes for the afternoon. The crew are on to tasks like removing sections of the busbar, installing insulator breaks, and removing droppers on lines. One thing I’m really finding invaluable is observing how Steve interacts and works with the service provider crew. Strong relationships are essential and watching how different people effectively interact is great for my development.

3:30 PM

The crew have successfully reconfigured the substation. While they wrap up, I check my emails. Reading and responding to emails keeps me updated on my other projects. Projects I’m involved in include Tauhara Geothermal and Hamilton STATCOM.  Tauhara Geothermal is a new geothermal station built near Taupō. Transpower is building a new substation to connect the geothermal station to the grid. I’m currently managing procurement for the project and drafting design review documents. Hamilton STATCOM is another substation project. I’m working with engineering consultants to answer design and construction queries. I’m also helping evaluate tender submissions involved in the project.

4:00 PM

Steve and I bid farewell to the crew for a bit to visit the nearby Waikaremoana power stations. The Waikaremoana hydroelectric power development consists of three power stations, fed from the Lake Waikaremoana, generating into Tuai Substation. It’s super cool seeing renewable energy in practice. The scale of hydro generation is always impressive! This is just a drive-by visit today due to tight COVID-19 restrictions.

6:00 PM

The crew involved in the reconfiguration work come together for kai. We meet at a local buffet restaurant and recharge ourselves with food. It feels great to celebrate a successful outcome with the people involved.

10:00 PM

I get ready for bed after a big day on site. I’m pleased for the early night as I’ll be driving to Palmerston North tomorrow. Although I’m tired, I’m also super satisfied with the day. It’s really rewarding seeing your engineering work play out in the real world. I look forward to more site visits during my time in the graduate programme at Transpower.