Most people never see what happens behind the scenes at a geothermal plant. They see the steam, the turbines, the power lines but not the teams who keep everything running safely and reliably.
Recently, the Stanley Instrumentation and Electrical (SIE) crew spent 3 weeks on site at Te Huka 3, Contact Energy’s newest geothermal plant in Taupō, supervising electrical maintenance and carrying out a full instrumentation turn around. Early starts, cold mornings, and a whole lot of teamwork, exactly the kind of work we thrive on!
The Work You Don’t See
During the outage, our technicians moved through every corner of the plant checking transmitters, calibrating sensors, verifying alarms, testing electrical systems, carrying out hazardous areas checks and making sure every piece of equipment was ready for service.
Geothermal plants operate in harsh environments, including heat, moisture and minerals, so even the smallest component needs to be performing perfectly.
Teamwork Makes the Outage
One of the highlights was collaborating with Contact Energy and our team of 15 SIE representatives, with 2 SIE representatives overseeing the instrumentation and electrical works.
At the midway point of the outage, Lance Maxwell (SIE & turn around overseer) was happy to report: “Just in the last week we’ve done over 1000 hours of work on behalf of the client, all without any harm incidents and a lot of good finds that we’re going to rectify. We’re currently sitting on target, there’s been a lot of work executed, over 500 instruments calibrated.”
Large scale turn arounds like this bring together operators, engineers, contractors, and specialists, all working toward a single goal: get the plant back online safely and efficiently, ensuring it’s safe to run.
Why We’re Proud
When Te Huka 3 returned to service, it wasn’t just a technical achievement. It was a testament to the leadership SIE has built over the last 4 years of operation and another example of SIE’s capabilities when it comes to large scale turn around execution. We strive to build on these and other work fronts as we support New Zealand’s renewable energy future, one maintenance task at a time.
