15 October 2007

Fiji’s hydro scheme generates engineering accolades

A Fiji project to establish a hydro-electric scheme was announced a category finalist in the 2007 New Zealand Engineering Excellence (NZEE) Awards today.

The third New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

The Wainikasou power project, completed by MWH, is a new run-of-river hydro-electric scheme built in the jungle clad highlands of central Viti Levu, Fiji. In an unconventional role for this type of project consulting engineer MWH NZ Limited was responsible for all engineering aspects of the project, from conceptual design and investigations, through to detailed design, software development, construction supervision and commissioning.

The FJ$9.5M scheme utilises an inflatable gate on an existing diversion structure constructed as part of the Monasavu hydro scheme, to feed water into a new 6.5MW powerstation. The powerhouse structure contains two horizontal Francis turbines, each generating enough power to supply around 10,000 Fijian homes. The value of this energy offsets diesel generation fuel costs of over FJ$3M per annum, equating to an emission saving of around 12,000 tonnes of CO2. In June 2005, the scheme negotiated the world’s first bank-intermediated carbon credit transaction, securing a deal with the Netherlands-based international bank ABN Amro for the purchase of 100 per cent of the Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) created from the Wainikasou project.

The scheme required an innovative approach to design and construction to overcome the challenges of a remote location, in particular the rough access roads, high rainfall and total lack of mains electricity, telephone and internet facilities. That on site construction works were completed below budget and in just 10 months is a testament to all involved.

David Elms, Convenor of the Category Awards judging panel said that the calibre of finalist projects highlighted the contribution that professional engineers make to New Zealand on a social, economic and environmental scale.

“These projects made the finalist cut because they each are outstanding examples of engineering innovation”, says Mr Elms. “This year’s finalists impressed the judges by demonstrating how their projects contributed to the national economy and the reputation of New Zealand engineering and impacted on quality of life in their communities”.

Winners of both individual and category awards will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner at TE PAPA, Wellington on Wednesday, 21 November 2007.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).