ORIGIN | Eraring Power Station
Sage Civil combined speed, safety and a commitment to 24-7 operations to keep Eraring Power Station firing.
Eraring is a coal fired electricity power station boasting four 720 MW Toshiba steam driven turbo-alternators with a combined capacity of 2,880 MW. The station is located near Dora Creek, on the western shore of Lake Macquarie. It is Australia’s largest power station.
With the station’s vital stacker reclaimer having trouble reaching coal at the back of the coal floor’s eastern and western sides, repairs were required. With the stacker reclaimer out of action, Sage Civil was called in to ensure a regular supply of coal directly to the power station’s hopper that was feeding the steam driven power generators to save any more production.
Sage Civil’s swift and practical interventions allowed the coal floor to be cleared, cut back and maintained ready for the next coal trains to deliver and fill the floor again, keeping Eraring Power Station safely generating power.
We know the Eraring power station site well having worked on it annually since 2016 to haul coal to the stacker, typically when the eastern and western coal floor needs to be emptied, cut back and refilled. In those instances, Sage Civil comes in with machines that the power station does not have for this purpose.
However, this was the first time a night shift was required on the coal floor to overcome the shortage of coal and deliver it to the hopper faster than normal.
Just 72-hours after a phone call from Robert Chapman, the power station’s operations manager, Sage civil had seven machines and 16 operators working literally around the clock 24-7.
We had 5 weeks to complete the project while the stacker reclaimer was being repaired by another contractor. Sage Civil determined the safest way to access the reclaimer around our civil works, identifying it with signage and bunting, and closing off areas as required to ensure absolute safety.
Being a 24-hour operation, we brought in lighting towers and implemented a robust Traffic Management Plan (TMP) which ensured the mission was completed as safely as possible as well.
We also established more than 10 new fire trails on the site, and created the new Boral pad and haul road across the power station’s dam. This was a very slow process laying down the 2 different Geo fabrics and using the ash to complete the First Haul road across the Dam
This tailored combination of solutions worked very well, and the challenging project was completed on time without a single safety incident. Not only that, our night-shift production levels were the highest the station had ever seen.
Having seen a number of snakes during phases of land clearing and earthmoving, and being conscious of the very hot temperatures during the day, all Sage Civil staff on the project completed a St John Ambulance first aid course. This meant the team had strategies and knowledge to keep themselves and their colleagues as safe as possible.
We created our own risk assessments and Safe Work Methods (SWMs), and Take-5s were completed for every part of the process.
Sage Civil was contracted by Origin Energy at Eraring Power station over the last 12 months continuously working every day. Jobs included Relocation of Coal, clearing and mulching of over grown property, Creating new fire trails and maintenance, building haul roads over Ash dams and rebuilding storage facilities.
Engaging Sage Civil has been great decision for Origin, Sage has an impeccable safety record with us that produce daily toolbox talks, take 5’s creating all of their SWMS and Risk Assessments, Sage Civil’s teams conduct and management have been a credit to Sage and we hope that we can continue to perform works in the future. It has been widely recognized Sage does not sit awaiting work and Sage performs additional services which has assisted the site during quieter periods of coal stack management, innovation and outside of the box thinking is definitely a Sage strength.
Sage civil prides themselves on hard work, Honesty and Trust, nothing is ever a problem that cannot be solved. We will continue to use Sage civil whenever the opportunity arises.