The Mortlake Power Station project consists of two open-cycle gas turbine units manufactured in Berlin. Bilfinger Berger Services (BBS) is involved in the construction of the power station, the switchyard and two pipelines that will provide water for the facility. As owner of the power station, proponent Origin Energy will be supplying the feedstock gas through an 83 kilometre pipeline that begins near Port Campbell.

The project will allow Origin to meet the growing electricity demand of its Victorian customers by using its own gas reserves from that area.

Currently there are over 300 employees working on the construction of the power station and switchyard. In addition, BBS has an engineering management and procurement department located in Sydney, where there can be up to 30 people working on the project at various times.

First in Australia

The power station uses Siemens 4000F open-cycle gas turbines, which are the largest turbines that BBS has ever installed. It’s also the first time this type of gas turbine has been used in Australia.

At Mortlake, BBS is responsible for the construction of the switchyard as well as the delivery of the turbines, generators and transformers from the Port of Melbourne to the power station.

Staying safe onsite

“We have a large number of personnel onsite who are required to be fully inducted and we’ve made sure that we have the right people with the right safety focus working for us,” Mr Tialshinky says.

“When we select our subcontractors we make sure they have a good safety record and the right systems in place. It’s also important that their safety culture is in sync with ours. We do audits prior to awarding contracts and carry out ongoing audits and checks to make sure that all procedures are followed and the site is being run in a safe way,” he says.

For BBS, this project has also included a significant amount of transportation. The company managed the heavy haulage of six major pieces of equipment from Melbourne to Mortlake and has overseen earth works that required up to 600 truck movements a day through the Mortlake township. Pipelines are also being installed through the town.

Mr Tialshinky says “There’s been a huge emphasis on traffic management that hasn’t been required in other BBS power station projects to date.”

BBS took steps such as visiting local schools to educate children about road safety. Truck drivers were also clearly instructed and monitored to make sure they drove safely through the town.

Engineering challenges

The Mortlake Power Station is unique for BBS. The large turbines are enclosed differently to those that were installed by the company in three other gas-fired power stations in the past 14 months. Much of the engineering focused on sequencing the construction activities.

“We have thoroughly investigated the options for developing Australian industry links for constructing gas skids in Australia. This has required a lot of engineering input from BBS alongside our subcontractor and could have long-term benefits for Australian industry,” Mr Tialshinky says.

Environmental concerns

Mr Tialshinky says weather has been a challenge for the project since construction began early in 2009.

“We go from one day with excessively high temperatures to a downpour the next. Shift arrangements have been implemented to make up for lost time,” he says.

“We are carefully managing drainage and making sure chemicals are safely stored and contained.”

He adds that BBS conducts detailed environmental surveys for every project to identify any protected species of flora and fauna, and implements management plans to ensure that the work has no impact on the species.

“At Mortlake, Origin and BBS identified sensitive environmental areas which cannot be disturbed and have developed suitable construction techniques to safeguard these areas,” Mr Tialshinky says.