Vacation Student ReportEnergex

January - February 2016

Lee Clark - The University of Queensland

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

"I have read the report and agree that it is basically and factually correct record of thestudent’s employment. Further, I give approval on behalf of Energex, for the report to bemade available to interested stakeholders, such as other bursary sponsor companiesand other bursary holders via the Australian Power Institute’s website."

Christian Parry - Supervis-ing Design Officer,

Signature

Date

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During the period from January to February 2016 I was employed by Energex as aVacation Student within the Distribution Design team at Energex’s Kelvin Grove hub.

The role’s objective involved learning the process that the team uses to design con-struction works plans for future planned work on Energex’s electricity distribution net-work. This essential work assists other teams and groups within Energex to conductits core business of providing a safe, reliable and cost-effective distribution network forits customer’s evolving energy needs.

Tools used for each design varied according to the job’s complexity and by which partsof the Network were to be worked on e.g. overhead, underground or both. Availabletools for distribution design work at Energex included:

• Autodesk Worksplans Design (AutoCAD);

• Energex’s ’MainsDes’ overhead design calculation tool;

• Various Manuals & Standards;

• Mincom Ellipse; and

• Energex’s LV Fuse Calculator tool.

In addition to design work, estimates of material and human resources for were com-pleted to assist financial tracking and resource allocation for each project.

The role afforded significant technical challenges that instilled an appreciation of howEnergex’s network performance and reliability is dependent upon accurate, technicallysound designs. Challenges of interest included:

• working with established standards and manuals to provide high quality and reli-able designs;

• considering the effects of design from a social aspect, i.e. local authorities andcustomer satisfaction;

• the need to integrate mechanical and electrical engineering considerations intooverhead design; and

• learning the functionality of the Worksplans Design (AutoCAD) application.

Working at Energex encouraged me to continue to maintain a high level of professional-ism which will serve me well in my future career and the work performed during my timethere have given me further insight into the Distribution sector of the Electricity SupplyIndustry. The technical, social and economic considerations required for high qualitydesigns, and the roles played in large networks has highlighted the need for continualdiligence and learning. I look forward to expanding my knowledge and experience inother areas of the Industry in the future.

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Contents

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiEXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vLIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

1 INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES 1

2 BACKGROUND 12.1 Company Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2 Organisational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2.2.1 Service Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.2.2 Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.2.3 Mains Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 ROLE 33.1 Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.2 Work Performed & Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3.2.1 Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 ANALYSIS & CONCLUSION 54.1 Technical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.2 Non-Technical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

BIBLIOGRAPHY 7

A APPENDIX A: Figures 8

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank Energex and the Australian Power Institute for providing me with thisinteresting and invaluable opportunity for professional development. I also wish tothank my supervisor Christian Parry and all of the team at Kelvin Grove Hub for theirguidance, patience and willingness to pass on their knowledge during my time there.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AER The Australian Energy RegulatorCAD Computer-aided DraftingDAPR Distribution Annual Planning ReportDNSP Distribution Network Service ProviderGOC Government Owned CorporationLV Low VoltageNEM The National Electricity MarketNER The National Electricity Rulesthe Network Energex’s Distribution NetworkSEQ South East Queensland

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1 INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES

During the period from January to February 2016 I was employed by Energex as aVacation Student within the Distribution Design team at Energex’s Kelvin Grove hub.The role’s objective involved learning the processes the team uses to design construc-tion works plans and estimate material and human resource needs for future plannedwork on Energex’s electricity distribution network (the Network). The design stage isan essential part in Energex’s core business, ensuring that all work completed satisfiesplanning specifications, conforms to necessary standards and is cost-effective. Fur-thermore, they allow field staff work group managers to efficiently schedule work fortheir teams and provide all of the necessary information for the teams to carry out thephysical work.

2 BACKGROUND

2.1 Company Overview

Energex is a Queensland Government Owned Corporation (GOC) that owned and op-erated the Network in South East Queensland (SEQ) for over 100 years under variousguises. Their role in the Nation Electricity Market (NEM) is as a Distribution NetworkService Provider (DNSP), managing the Network to facilitate the electricity connectionsof nearly 1.4 million customers (population 3.2 million) across the SEQ region (see Fig-ure A.1 in Appendix Appendix A).

The plant, property and equipment which comprise total Network assets of approxi-mately $12 billion, including:

• approximately 35,000km of overhead lines;

• approximately 17,000km of underground cables;

• 42 bulk supply substations;

• 244 zone substations;

• approximately 48,000 distribution transformers; and

• over 1 million (combined) poles and street lights. [1]

In accordance with the National Electricity Rules (NER) Clause 5.13.1, Energex mustconduct an annual planning review in which they

"...analyse the expected future operation of its network over the forwardplanning period..." [2]

Also in accordance with the NER, Energex has set this planning period at five years.The results of the review are published in the Distribution Annual Planning Report(DAPR), which is submitted to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), who then reviewand regulate Energex’s revenue requirements for the planning period [3].

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2.2 Organisational Structure

Energex’s consists of six primary divisions that carry out its core business of providinga safe, reliable and cost-effective distribution network:

• Asset Management - who ensure Energex achieves its objectives by providingright network policies, standards, network strategic planning, works program de-velopment, safety strategies, environmental management and network data man-agement;

• Customer & Corporate Relations - who coordinate customer strategies, managecustomer operations and facilitate two-way communications between Energexand customers;

• Finance - who are responsible for business performance and analysis, perfor-mance management, financial control, tax affairs, treasury, and finance staff in-formation;

• Procurement, People & Services - who provide targeted support services to sup-port Energex’s Program of Work such as business operations and support, busi-ness transformation, field support, human resources, procurement and supply,and property services;

• Service Delivery - who deliver customer needs through safe and efficient design,construction, maintenance and operation of the Network;

• Strategy, Regulation & Governance - who provide strategic leadership, developand implement Energex business objectives, secure business funding, provideguidance to the Board and Executive Management Team on matters such asrisk, compliance, governance and legal issues. [4]

Further details of each division are outside the scope of this report, however the rolesand group breakdown of the Service Delivery division are discussed.

2.2.1 Service DeliveryService Delivery is Energex’s largest division accounting for over 1,700 employees at23 locations throughout SEQ whose core purpose is to provide a safe, reliable and af-fordable electricity network for their customer’s evolving energy needs [5]. The divisionconsists of five departments that provide essential technical services to achieve theseoutcomes:

• Commercial Business & Program of Work Planning

• Design

• Field Services

• Network Operations

• Technology Solutions [4]

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2.2.2 DesignThe Design Group consists of approximately 160 staff to provide high quality, cost ef-fective and safe engineering design services and solutions for Network infrastructure.While delivering these key objectives, the group seeks to continually improve in cus-tomer service by reducing design cycle times and increasing the accuracy of projectestimations.

These outcomes are achieved across the entire scope of the Network and it’s assetsthrough five departments:

• Estimation Systems

• Mains Design

• Power Systems Engineering

• Primary Systems Design

• Secondary Systems Design

2.2.3 Mains DesignThe Mains Design department achieves the key outcomes of the Design division throughdevelopment and augmentation of 110kV, 33kV, 11kV and low voltage (LV) overheadand underground networks by providing:

• design services;

• engineering solutions; and

• and consultancy services.

The department is also the point of interface with external developers, local authoritiesand consultants simplifying the provision of advice on customer-driven projects andpublic lighting planning and design works. Distribution Design sits within this depart-ment, providing designs for projects involving the 11kV and LV portions of the Network.

Figure A.2 in Appendix A covers the overall divisional structure of Energex and high-lights the place of Distribution Design among the various teams, groups and divisionsdiscussed.

3 ROLE

The Work performed throughout the vacation employment period was to design con-struction works plans for Network additions and augmentations and to estimate therequired resources to complete the planned works. The designs aided the DistributionDesign team in achieving its goals of providing high quality design solutions to ensurea safe, reliable and cost-effective Network.

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3.1 Tools

The set of tools used for each design varied according to the job’s complexity and bywhich parts of the Network were to be worked on e.g. overhead, underground or both.A list of the main tools available to undertake distribution design work at Energex issummarised as follows:

• Worksplans Design - a custom extension of the AutoCAD Computer-aided Draft-ing (CAD) software package developed by Autodesk. The extension allows up todate Network spatial data to be downloaded and rendered as a two- dimensionalmodel within the program. Network objects in the model, e.g. poles, cables, con-duits, wires etc, can be added and/or altered using customised tool sets that allowthe user to create an alteration in the network according to the job specificationand produce a construction plan for workers to follow.

• MainsDes - a custom overhead mains design application produced by Energex.Contains tools such as pole strength calculations, sag tensions, stay wire cal-culators and current ratings for conductors to aid in ensuring the design of theoverhead network meets Energex and Australian standards.

• Manuals & Standards - Energex produces a number of engineering standardsand manuals that are followed to ensure that the Network is built to a safe, re-liable standard. Specific documents used in the design work are the OverheadConstruction Manual, the Overhead Design Manual, Street Lighting Constructionand Standards Manuals, and the Resource Estimation Guide.

• Ellipse - an integrated Enterprise Asset Management suite of applications thathandles the management of assets, works, logistics, financials and human re-sources. Used in designs for estimating material and human resource needs fora job, which helps plan work schedules and track the financials of a project [6].

• LV Fuse Calculator - an Energex-developed spreadsheet tool for calculating thesize of LV by entering circuit length, conductor type and size, and transformerkVA rating.

3.2 Work Performed & Outcomes

Throughout the duration of employment, designs and estimates for planned works wereproduced. The chief outcomes of these designs, as stated before, are a physical planand an estimate of the resources required that Field Services can use to schedule andcarry out the work.

3.2.1 ProcessEach project is allocated an electronic folder on a server where all documents pertain-ing to the project are stored for record keeping. All folders use the same file structuretemplate when created in order to maintain good housekeeping.A design is begun upon receiving a physical project folder containing the project spec-ification as prepared by the Planning team. The workflow used for each design issummarised as follows:

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• Review the project sheet for the job location, job requirements and other relevantinformation e.g. Dial Before You Dig results, current network state in the workarea, other information given by the planner.

• Conduct a site visit to gather essential data for the design to begin e.g. the loca-tion of assets on site, pole heights and conditions, size and type of any conduc-tors/cables affected by the work. On occasion a second site visit may be neededto obtain further information as the design progresses or if the location of a newasset requires marking out for field staff e.g. a new pole location.

• An preliminary plan is created in Worksplans. An initial data capture is performedto download the required Network spatial data into the model and is checkedagainst the data gathered from the site visit. Any discrepancies between thetwo are corrected so that the model reflects the physical network on site. De-sign Mode is then used to show the work requirements. 11kV and LV networkalterations are also included if they will occur during the work.

• A preliminary estimate is created in Ellipse. Material requirements are importedfrom the design created in Worksplans, due to its ability to create a material listfrom the alterations made in Design Mode, and adjusted if required.

• The works plan and estimate are forwarded to another member of the team toproofread and review. Once they are both satisfactory, the plan is issued forconstruction and it and the estimate are packaged up to be passed on to fieldstaff. Also, a design checklist is completed to ensure nothing is missed and anyother required forms are completed and sent to the relevant people, i.e. councilapprovals and environmental hazard identifications.

Throughout this process, any number of the other tools mentioned in section 3.1 couldbe employed to ensure the job is designed to a sufficient standard and that the correctmaterials and human resources are allocated.

4 ANALYSIS & CONCLUSION

4.1 Technical

The work I performed at Energex was both technically challenging and interesting.Energex’s Network performance is critical to it’s core business and thus the importanceof accurate, technically sound designs is a crucial part in maintaining a reliable network.Technical that I found both challenging and interesting include:

• working with established standards and manuals to provide high quality and reli-able designs;

• considering the effects of design from a social aspect, i.e. local authorities andcustomer satisfaction;

• the need to integrate mechanical and electrical engineering considerations intooverhead design; and

• learning the functionality of the Worksplans Design application.

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4.2 Non-Technical

Energex core values encourage safety, respect, teamwork and delivering balancedresults, which I witnessed on a day to day basis among my colleagues. During my timethere I was able to further develop in the areas of:

• accurate and professional communication;

• work ethic and professional conduct;

• understanding of corporate structures and their value in achieving unified busi-ness outcomes; and

• sense of pride in successfully completing tasks.

Working at Energex encouraged me to continue to maintain a high level of profession-alism which will serve me well in my future career.

4.3 Conclusion

The experiences and work during my time with Energex have given me insight into anessential facet of the Electricity Supply Industry. The broad range of technical consid-erations, and the social and economic considerations that are required for high qualitydesigns and the role they play in a large network has highlighted the need for con-tinual diligence and learning. I consider this, along with further knowledge of howseparate branches of Engineering and business departments work together in largesystems invaluable in becoming an effective Engineer and I look forward to expandingmy knowledge and experience in other areas of the Industry in the future.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Energex Limited. Energex Distribution Annual Planning Report 2015/16-2019/20Volume 1. Published Online, https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/283677/2015-DAPR-Volume-1.pdf, August 2015.

[2] Australian Eneregy Market Commission. National Electricity Rules Version78. http://www.aemc.gov.au/getattachment/a7fb8f95-ce47-4912-952d-4138e8d351ce/National-Electricity-Rules-Version-78.aspx, Ch.5 p.458. Last ac-cessed February 2016.

[3] Australain Energy Regulator. Determinations & Access Arrangements.Web Page, http://www.aer.gov.au/networks-pipelines/determinations-access-arrangements, Last accessed 23 February 2015.

[4] Energex Limited. Corporate divisions. Company Private Intranet Portal, Last ac-cessed February 2016.

[5] Energex Limited. Service Delivery Divisional Business Plan for 2015/16. InternalCompany Document, July 2015.

[6] ABB. Ellipse - The Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution for asset inten-sive industries. Published Online, http://new.abb.com/docs/librariesprovider139/default-document-library/ellipse-overview_abb.pdf?sfvrsn=2, Last ac-cessed 24 February 2016.

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A APPENDIX A: Figures

Figure A.1: Energex Distribution Network Coverage Map [Source: Energex]

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Figure A.2: Mains Design department’s location within Energex’s organisationalstructure

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