2020 was a challenging year
This year was a big year of growth and change in our processes to work safer and smarter.
The projects we worked on in 2020 saw us adapting on our feet to meet border regulations, developing new safety guidelines for our us and our clients, and ensuring that we always had a team of healthy staff ready to go 24/7.
Working With Stanwell
Stanwell is one of our long-term clients and we worked with them over the year to ensure our teams could work safe on-site with the new risk of COVID-19.
This year, rotating teams from our Brisbane and Townsville offices worked on-site for 6 weeks in total, undertaking Unit 2 Outage works, maintenance testing works as part of a 4-year running schedule, SPS U 2020 Electrical Scope, and HV transformer testing.
Protech’s preparation for this job included online inductions, working in confined spaces safely, thermal scanning twice daily and creating our own staff COVID-19 safety guidelines for when they were off-site, in transit, and when sharing vehicles.
During the third week on site, the excitation transformer failed the DIRANA/IDAX moisture test and we had undertake 24 hour filtration for a seven day duration. We devised a night shift scheduling plan to accommodate this.
During our time on site, our technician, Dan Seaton contributed to their “Faces of the Shutdown” campaign and they generously collaborated with us to facilitate a company photoshoot on site that was instrumental in our new branding approach. We look forward to continuing our work with Stanwell in 2021.
We’ve Hired Some Talented Fresh Faces To Facilitate Our Growth In 2021.
André Brinckman
André has joined Protech Energy Group to deliver a new generation of projects.
His past roles have seen him work on some of the world’s most iconic buildings, hotels and resorts, both in Australia and internationally.
He has worked in Thailand, Vietnam, the Maldives, Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan and the UAE. He has championed building safety remediation works in the RGM industry throughout Asia, and MEP systems and district energy centres for the new Yas South Integrated Destination Resort, UAE.
With 35 years of experience in the facilities, building and construction industries, André brings a wealth of Project Management skills and experience to Protech Energy Group in 2021.
Aaron Cowper
Aaron has joined Protech Energy Group to grow our client base in the energy and mining industries.
With 10 years in business development, Aaron’s past roles have seen him work with Total Generators in the mining and gas sectors in Queensland and with Briggs & Stratton supporting a dealer network.
Aaron’s expertise is in Business Development and Client Relationship Management with a passion for the mining and energy sectors.
“Protech Energy Group is a dynamic company going through an expansion and growth phase. It’s exciting to develop not only the opportunities but the services we provide our existing and potential customers. I enjoy developing strong business relationships that are mutually beneficial.”
Richard Twentyman
Richard has joined Protech Energy Group to expand our reach in the NSW and VIC markets.
Richard has 10 years in management and business development roles within the overhead power line industry.
Richard has extensive experience with overhead and underground ASP1 companies in NSW, including Poles & Underground, ARA, Connect Infrastructure and Apex Energy who specialise in embedded networks.
“Protech Energy Group are a well-established and respected Electrical service provider. This was a chance to get back into the electrical industry and to broaden my experience and knowledge in other areas such as Substation maintenance and switchboards.”
Murray Kitson
Murray has joined our team in Townsville.
Murray is an experienced electrical technician and qualified electrical engineer. He has worked across Australia, Papua New Guinea and Antarctica as an Electrician and an Electrical Engineer.
Murray has worked on wind farm and solar renewable energy projects and large scale engineering and electrical jobs such as Airportlink Tunnel and the Olympic Dam. His multi-disciplinary skillset and international experience make him a strong asset to the Protech team for 2021.
What We’re Working On…
MPA + Gold Coast Water
Protech are currently working on HV design and install for Gold Coast Water with MPA.
The project consists of an upgrade to the electrical systems at Elanora Treatment Plant.
Protech has worked with MPA on this project to assist with HV Switching.
So far, this project has included working to fix an emergency fault. There is risk of a system fault causing overflow into Tallebudgera Creek, which can become a critical local health issue, so we were able to mobilise in less than 24 hours.
We had specialists to work through the issues remotely, as well to support the highly qualified technicians on-site. We performed a fault investigation and a root-cause analysis and were able to resolve the issue quickly. The overall project is ongoing.
What we’ve learnt…
Lockdowns, Flooding And COVID-19
Thanks to our safety procedures, we were able to work around all that 2020 had to throw at us and overall, had a successful year. Whether it was arranging for staff on one site to travel directly to another to avoid localised lockdowns or finding ways to navigate flooded areas to get to site or arranging for contractors to work on a job in Victoria during lock-down during at Protech we find a way to solve the problem.
Our staff are always practising COVID-safe behaviours and are regularly tested. We have drafted mobilisation and demobilisation safety procedures so we can make sure we always have healthy staff to go on-site.
Protech is going into 2021 with a new understanding of how to work within this new landscape and we’re confident that we can only get better.