Our first company, Voltex Power Engineers came into existence when a Mexican, a Zimbabwean and a Pommie (this is not a joke !) met to lament the poor state of our industry, based on our individual experiences. Projects ran over time, over budget, but even more critically, underperformed, and this was becoming noticeably more the rule rather than the exception. Quite simply, we thought we could do so much better.
When we pooled our experiences, and examined the combined history, one aspect quickly stood out – we represented a range of stakeholders – from electrical equipment manufacturers (supply) to principal contractors (construction) to end users (clients). We know how they all think, and what drives their own decisions – and that meant that we could better navigate the path to successful power project delivery. Our first project was commissioning all of the HV power supplies for the world’s largest gold plant upgrade – Lihir’s Million Ounce Plant Upgrade (MOPU).
As our number of clients grew, we began to receive increasing requests to also provide operator training on HV power equipment and protection systems that we had designed and / or commissioned. Often this involved High Voltage operations, with specific reference to the maintenance and fault finding of these power systems. The Voltex Group now evolved to include this specialised training and Power & Plant Training was established in 2011. By 2013, PPT achieved ASQA accreditation as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO #40627), with our High Voltage Isolation and Access courses now including Nationally Recognised Training (NRT) status.
While seconded to supply services including design review and HV SAT in Hong Kong to a consortium of Veolia, Leightons and John Holland on the world’s largest Sludge Treatment Facility (now know as “T-Park”), Voltex’s engineers recommended the need for a better Substation Automation System, based on IEC 61850 standards. This “Power SCADA” network, required the combined skills of engineers that understood both HV Power and SCADA systems, and so Voltex Systems & Integration became the final complementary arm of the Voltex Group’s specialised power systems services.
