Over the next decade, utilities are faced with the huge task of delivering the critical infrastructure that will support Australia’s future – and connectivity is their partner on the road to success.
Australia is powering towards a renewable future, with the entire energy sector rallying to deliver the vital generation, transmission, storage and firming projects that we urgently need to hit net zero and safeguard the grid.
At the same time, there’s an urgent need for new water infrastructure to secure our most precious resource as populations grow and the climate changes.
ACCIONA is a sustainable infrastructure company that has been charged with delivering and maintaining some of the largest and most critical utility projects in Australia – including the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) transmission project, the Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant in Perth and the Maclntyre Wind Farm.
In the modern world, connectivity is essential to not only operate these assets but to build them too.
ACCIONA Group Head of ICT – Australia and New Zealand, Mark Opitz, explained just how much major utility assets rely on connectivity.
“It’s impossible to efficiently run a wind turbine on its own in the middle of nowhere, you need someone controlling it,” Mr Opitz said.
“We continually have to send these facilities instructions on how it needs to operate, and that facility needs to be connected to the market regulators and operational team.
“And for those facilities to be remotely controlled, we rely on comms to do that.”
Mr Opitz said that many of these projects are also in remote locations and spread across long distances.
“Our Maclntyre facility, which is being energised now, is currently Australia’s biggest wind farm with 180 turbines in a massive 32,000ha paddock, and each of those turbines is seeking instruction on what to do, how much power to export and whether it needs to turn faster or slower,” he said.
“We also monitor the maintenance and health of the entire turbine, which has hundreds of sensors on it, and all this information is fed through a continuous stream of comms – and without reliability there we’d be in some trouble.”
Hit the ground running
There’s absolutely no time to waste during construction; not only do delays directly impact costs but the urgent need for these vital water and energy projects means there’s no room for setbacks.
As a global company, ACCIONA has access to some of the best design teams in the world, but leveraging this international expertise means transferring a lot of large files and data daily. A stable network connection on-site means faster communication between teams, streamlined project management and a greater ability to swiftly respond to challenges as they arise.
According to Mr Opitz, standing up construction sites requires an immense amount of flexibility and agility.
“We’ve had requirements from project teams to mobilise a site with 48 hours’ notice, which is a bit extreme, but a lot of the time we’re only given a week.”
“Previously, we would never get a service level agreement for comms anywhere within one week, but Starlink and Vocus’ service have been an absolute game changer for us,” he said
Vocus provides ACCIONA with Starlink and fibre network solutions, which Mr Opitz said has been an enormous help in cases where ACCIONA needed to mobilise a site as quickly as possible.
“With Vocus, we’ve been able mobilise sites in short timeframes multiple times over. I’m talking one or two weeks, whereas it used to take 12 to 13 weeks to get fibre communications up and running,” he said.
Vocus was the first company to bring Starlink satellite broadband to the Australian market, and ACCIONA was one of the very first to adopt their technology.
“Vocus put Starlink in our hands and now we’re quite efficiently getting sites connected that were untouchable by all forms of comms,” Mr Opitz said.
“We used to have to use satellite services that were time consuming and expensive to establish in these remote locations, whereas with the Starlink service you can mobilise and commission it within a of couple of hours.”
Aim for the stars
Although Starlink is a game-changing technology, Vocus is constantly improving and building on its products to meet market needs. For remote builds and major transmission projects that span hundreds of kilometres, like the Central-West Orana REZ, Vocus has developed a mobile Starlink solution that can be mounted to the top of a vehicle to keep crews connected at all times.
This solution provides WI-FI for a range of up 100m from the vehicle and was custom-built with a Vocus partner. The system is encapsulated in a protective pod that keeps it cool and safe in harsh conditions, and they can also easily be swapped between vehicles without causing damage.
Rather than offer out-of-the-box satellite connectivity, Vocus works alongside its partners to tailor and develop new solutions – and this philosophy around innovation is one that ACCIONA also embodies.
“As a team, we drive people to stop thinking conventionally – that sounds like a textbook statement, but this is how we live and breathe,” Mr Opitz said.
“We’re not afraid to challenge the norm and to stick our heads out, and our tech team use a lot of solutions that are a first-off in Australia.
“Vocus is a certainly a massive enabler of that. And our vendors enable us to ramp up and mobilise our sites to use this new technology, because almost everything we deliver tech-wise has to go through a connection somewhere.
“Their reliability allows us to build and create more solutions that rely on comms and connectivity so our business can keep embracing innovation.
“Sometimes we work a bit too hard trying to change and make the world a better place, I must be honest, but it’s worth it at the end of the day.”
For more information, visit vocus.com.au
