How an obscure piece of an engineering kit is powering the renewable revolution.
The green energy revolution has its photogenic heroes: gleaming solar arrays that stretch to the horizon, wind turbines standing sentinel on hillsides, and battery farms that are of force.
But as with many revolutions, the real agent of change lurks underground. The unglamorous business of laying cables — the veins of renewable infrastructure — is undergoing its own quiet upheaval.
Enter TESMEC, a company whose mechanical laying process (MLP) is cutting edge.
The new tech
The completion of New Zealand’s Harapaki Wind Farm project showcases the transformative potential of this technology.
In this challenging terrain, 1000m above sea level, TESMEC successfully deployed 220km of cabling to connect 41 wind turbines, demonstrating the process’s adaptability to complex renewable energy installations.
Traditional cable installation methods involve multiple excavators, numerous workers, and a fleet of trucks working in careful coordination.
However, this approach brings significant challenges, including increased safety risks from workers entering trenches, extended project timelines, and substantial environmental disruption.
TESMEC’s MLP, pioneered by Marais Group in the 1970s and continuously refined since then, offers a compelling alternative.
At its core, the MLP utilises a sophisticated trenching machine equipped with an automated laying box, dramatically simplifying what was once a complex orchestration of equipment and personnel.
Speed, safety, precision
The mechanical process offers several key advantages over traditional excavator-based methods.
One major benefit is speed, with up to 2500m of cable laid daily in soft soil conditions and 400m in harder rocky terrain.
This increased pace translates to significant cost savings of up to 40 per cent compared to conventional trenching and laying techniques requiring more machinery and labour.
Safety is another paramount advantage, as the laying box guides cables into the trench mechanically, eliminating the need for workers to enter potentially unstable trenches. This safety aspect was crucial for the Charlotte Pass backup power cable replacement, conducted in an environmentally sensitive national park area.
Precision is a hallmark benefit, with GPS-guided TESMEC trenchers and adjustable laying boxes ensuring cables are positioned at exact planned depths and alignments for long-lasting infrastructure performance.
Environmental impact is minimised through narrower trenches requiring less excavation, reduced transportation of machinery and material to and from the site, and less cable wrapping material usage.
The advanced technology behind the mechanical process is impressive.
TESMEC’s trenchers offer high-accuracy GPS guidance, while the laying boxes can be pre-configured for different cable types, diameters, and multi-cable layouts.
The integrated process streamlines five major steps into one continuous operation: unrolling cables from a TESMEC reel carrier vehicle, wrapping cables together for a bundled layout, trenching the ground, mechanical cable laying via the specialised box, and backfilling/compacting the trench with sand or reused excavated material.
Beyond just the innovative technology, TESMEC demonstrates remarkable expertise in adapting to challenging project environments.
At Charlotte Pass, the company redesigned the originally planned cable layout to a stacked configuration meeting national park regulations while maintaining efficient installation.
At Harapaki Wind Farm, careful crew coordination allowed trenching in incremental sections along the main access road.
The success of TESMEC’s MLP is evident in its proven track record of delivering efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly cable installation solutions for infrastructure projects.
With its advanced technology and expertise in adapting to complex environments, TESMEC is poised to revolutionise the cable installation industry.
Looking ahead
As the renewable energy sector in Australasia continues its rapid growth, the demand for efficient, safe, and environmentally conscious cable installation methods will only increase.
For renewable energy developers and infrastructure contractors, TESMEC’s MLP offers a compelling proposition: faster project completion, enhanced safety, reduced environmental impact, and significant cost savings.
For more details, visit tesmec.com.au
This article featured in the December edition of ecogeneration.
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