Ampcontrol said the eight outlet 11kV - 3.3kV flameproof substations are the largest ever built for an underground coal operation and weigh approximately 48 tonnes each.

Keian Barnard, Ampcontrol senior operations manager, said the project offered several significant challenges for the Ampcontrol design engineers.

Specific design consideration had to be given to the substation to accommodate the low height of the mining conditions.

The substation outlets were protected with Ampcontrol IPB integrated protection relays utilising the built in functionality of earth fault lockout, earth leakage and earth continuity protection. The Ampcontrol MICA industrial computers were also used on this project.

The MICA industrial computers are the most recent product development to come from the Ampcontrol in house R&D engineering group and have been specifically developed for the coal mining industry.

Ampcontrol Transformers designed and manufactured the hermetically sealed nitrogen gas filled transformers for the substations, completing the total turnkey electrical package which included two distribution control boxes, two control and monitoring units, cable, lighting, IS power supplies, as well as voice communications with remote isolation.

The substations were built at the company’s manufacturing facility in the Hunter Valley and commissioning was supported by engineers from the Mackay Service Centre.