Huntly Power Plant - New Zealand

The Customer

New Zealand's largest thermal power station is operated by Genesis Power in Huntly. It generates 1000 MegaWatts of electricity from coal and gas.

The Challenge

The power plant had operated four separate radio systems and coverage had been poor because of the types of buildings on site.

A single TaitNet TN1100 site is now providing coverage around the 71 hectare plant; along a 3km overland coal conveyer; and to ash ponds 3kms north of the plant.

The new system allows the five different work groups at the plant to communicate with each other and features an emergency call option.

The old systems were voice only, while the new system provides data and PABX features as well as backup power and duplicated audio linking.

The Solution

Tait and Genesis are also looking at extending the radio coverage to areas like the underground power cable tunnels at the plant and the TN1100 system to support future expansion.

Twenty-six Intrinsically Safe Tait portables are used on the system along with five Tait mobiles. One of the mobiles features dual control heads enabling staff on opposite sides of a control desk to operate it easily.

Two T1810 channel controllers (each capable of managing four channels) provide the system intelligence. The business may implement telephone
interconnection in the future, which is possible with the TN1100.