Bureau Veritas New Zealand has been engaged by Genesis Energy to deliver a Risk Based Inspection (RBI) program, including the development of a customised RBI tool. The aim of the work is to review the life of the units and determine the optimal inspection regime of Unit 1, 2, 4 & 5 at Huntly Power Station. Due to the unpredictable and overall reduced utilisation of the aging three Coal/Gas fired Rankine units over the past few years and with their immediate future in question, the engineering teams had questions around remaining life and statutory certification periods of numerous plant items when facing a variable generation portfolio. Bureau Veritas’ brief was to perform an assessment on nominated plant items, with a goal to optimise the inspection intervals and inspection programs based on best practice methodology related to agreed failure mechanisms and in the process to identify the remaining life.
Huntly Power Station
Bureau Veritas New Zealand were successfully chosen as a partner for this work because of our capabilities within New Zealand and Australia. We demonstrated our ability to provide international and local experience in thermal Power stations through our key personnel. Bureau Veritas’ Principal Engineer Wolfgang Mika has been an integral team member during the project, bringing his local and international power industry experience to the project, whilst Deepak Mhatre – New Zealand Engineering Manager has coordinated the engineering work locally and has been embedded in the project team.
Glen Pepper – Genesis Integrity Manager said “There are also the softer benefits arising from the RBI assessment work, namely the capture and retention of all the relative equipment history including drawings, design, inspection, failure history and information stored in one spot, and the capture of experience and knowledge from our vastly experienced, and aging workforce of Technical Authorities, Inspectors, Engineers and Operators as well”.
During the project Bureau Veritas have involved two Genesis Energy interns from the University of Waikato into the project team and have incorporated their learning outcomes into the engineering assessments undertaken as a part of the review. The students were mentored by Bureau Veritas New Zealand Engineering manager - Deepak Mhatre who said “Both students were very capable and eager to learn. They assisted in gathering inspection and maintenance history of pressure equipment from various database systems that Genesis uses. Their turnaround time, understanding and accuracy was excellent"
New Zealand Country Chief Executive Rhys Lewis has also said “The RBI and life assessment work for Genesis is strategically important for the New Zealand business, as it demonstrates our capacity and creates a reference for Bureau Veritas New Zealand in partnerships at any scale in the delivery of end to end solutions with regard to Engineering compliance and optimisation"
Bureau Veritas have successfully delivered the flexibility that was required to adjust to the demanding requirements of the program and variable scope due to changing priorities within the New Zealand electricity market. The work is scheduled to continue through 2019.
Genesis Energy are New Zealand’s only fully integrated energy management company with a 25% share of the electricity market, 38% share of the gas market and 19% share of the LPG market.