Uranquinty Power Station

Construction commenced on the Uranquinty Power Station, located approximately 15 km from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, in early 2007. BBS is the principal construction contractor for the project, which consists of four 150 megawatt (MW) gas turbine generators and associated power generation equipment, site infrastructure and a new gas offtake.

At present, all four gas turbine units are complete. Plant infrastructure, such as roads, are being finished and it is expected that all construction and commissioning will be complete by the end of the year.

Project Manager Val Tialshinsky said that the site workforce peaked at 387 personnel during construction. “In addition, the Sydney-based design, procurement and management team employed up to 30 people at various stages of the project. Wherever possible and practical, local contractors from the Wagga Wagga region were utilised.

“Construction of a project such as the Uranquinty Power Station in a rural community requires the constructor to become part of that community,” he continued. “Close relations were developed between BBS and local residents and businesses.”

Earthworks, civil and structural works were carried out by Wagga Wagga companies, and Albury was used as the base for a large amount of structural steelwork fabrication.

Mr Tialshinsky said that the stringent noise limitations that have been placed on the operation of the plant have been hard to overcome.

BBS was originally contracted by a joint venture between ERM Power and Babcock & Brown Power, but the facility has recently been sold to Origin Energy.

Neerabup Power Station

In addition to Uranquinty, in February this year BBS was awarded the principal contract for ERM Power and Babcock & Brown Power’s $445 million Neerabup Power Station located north of Perth, Western Australia. The project consists of two 165 MW gas turbine generators and associated power generation equipment, site infrastructure and new gas pipelines.

BBS is responsible for the installation of the power generation equipment and the design and construction of the balance of plant, including earthworks, foundations, buildings, piping and electrical work.

Site clearing commenced on the project site in July. Access roads and earthworks were quickly completed and first major foundations were ready by mid-October. The first turbine was installed in late October and construction of the first ‘power island’ and the balance of plant works will be complete in May 2009.

It has been estimated that up to $15 million in contracts and purchase orders will be placed with local companies for works such as site establishment, administration/control and workshop buildings, early electrical works, site fencing and general transport.

BBS Neerabup Project Manager Colin White said that the project has had unique issues with local council requirements, soil conditions, stormwater management, water and waste treatment, as well as the plant layout.

Mr White said “Water has to be demineralised to be suitable for injection into the power equipment. At Neerabup, the raw water comes from an onsite bore and this supply requires significant treatment. On other sites it is of drinking water standard, requiring little treatment.

“On some projects, the authorities even require clean storm water to be retained onsite. At Neerabup, clean storm water is discharged via a soakway pit but water from potentially contaminated areas – even the car park – and waste water from the power plant are treated and sent to an evaporation basin.”

Braemar 2 Power Station

The Braemar 2 Power Station, located west of Brisbane, consists of three 150 MW gas turbine generators and associate power generation equipment, site infrastructure and new gas pipelines.

BBS has been contracted by a partnership between ERM Power and Arrow Energy as principal contractor for the construction of the power station, responsible for the installation of the power generation equipment supplied by Siemens and the design and construction of the balance of plant works including earthworks, foundations, buildings, piping and electrical work.

Site clearing commenced at the end of January 2008, with access roads and earthworks quickly completed and first major foundations ready by mid-June, when the first turbine was installed. Construction of the first ‘power island’ and the balance of plant works are set for completion in December this year. Project Manager Peter O’Dea said that commercial operation of the first generator unit is expected in March 2009, with the other two units following at monthly intervals.

Mr O’Dea said that there have been no cultural heritage issues with the Braemar project as the land was not frequented by Aborigines, but that much planning was undertaken to minimise environmental impact on the immediate area, especially in the case of some rare flora: a colony of Philotheca Sporadica – a protected flowering shrub, located adjacent to the site.

“Care has to be taken to ensure [there is] no impact from construction activities. For example, we cannot use the site’s raw water supply for dust suppression as it is too salty and any subsequent rainwater run-off may affect the health of the plants. So we import fresh water for dust control. We also had to re-route the fence and reduce the site area when it was discovered some plants had sprouted closer to the site since the original flora survey,” said Mr O’Dea.

Raw water supply from the site is salty because it comes from nearby coal seam gas fields. As such, the water needs to be demineralised to be suitable for injection into the power equipment, similar to the Neerabup project.

Lessons learned

Both Mr White and Mr O’Dea said that the Neerabup and Braemar projects had significantly benefited from lessons learnt during the construction of the Uranquinty Power Station, as the power generation and auxiliary equipment between each project is similar.

In addition, all three projects use the same contractor methodology, which has been undertaken under a three party contract model. The Uranquinty project was the first power generation project that BBS had undertaken using the model.

“The aim of the model is for the three parties, namely the owner, the power island contractor – in this case Siemens – and the balance of plant contractor to work together in a cooperative manner for a common goal,” Mr Tialshinsky said.

He went on to explain that this is not a typical engineering, procurement and construction contract with one main contractor taking overall responsibility for the works. He said that both Siemens, who supplied power generation equipment to all the projects, and BBS have separate contracts with the owners but there is a tripartite coordination deed obliging Siemens and BBS to collaborate on each of the projects.

On all projects BBS employed a range of safety management practices.

After the contracts were awarded, Safety Management Plans were prepared that were then followed by Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control studies in order to eliminate the main construction risks.

BBS undertook construction on each of the power stations in a joint venture with its sister company, Baulderstone.