06 July 2020 Merredin Solar Farm – Western Power Substation
2019 – 2020
In March 2019 Risen Energy commenced construction work on a 360,000 panel solar energy farm near Merredin, Western Australia. The solar farm will be connected to the nearby Western Power Merredin Terminal at 220kV and is intended to generate approximately 281GWh annually.
Pathfinder was contracted directly by Western Power on this major utility project to assemble and install communications infrastrucure elements and devices, including fit out of communications racks for the new sites. This involved the management of customer-supplied materials such as Keymile multiplexers and Cisco Ethernet switches as well as specialist procurement of cables and devices.
Apart from fitting out and installing new communications equipment racks at the solar farm site, substations and terminal site, Pathfinder also had responsibility to install new civil communications infrastructure such as new pits and conduits.
This involved modifications to long haul multiplexer devices (Keymile XMC family products), VOIP equipment, changes to power systems and cabling and a complex array of brown-fields modifications such as upgrading interfaces and changes to patching.
With respect to optical fibre cabling tasks, Pathfinder supplied and installed conventional loose tube cable, MTP cables, high-strength type cable and the related joints and enclosures. We also performed splicing and termination of OPGW cables at several sites, including terminating and testing new OPGW lines associated with 220kV transmission system modifications in the area.
At the solar farm and terminal sites Pathfinder performing complex cabling installation tasks involving multiple services, protocols and cabling technologies. Pathfinder also installed, tested and commissioned the 48V DC rectifier systems at the sites, including provision of the AC interconnections to feed the new systems.