We are happy to announce that our performance monitoring team have just signed a contract with renewables company Lodestone Energy in New Zealand.
This contract is for the monitoring of Kaitaia and Edgecumbe, 33MW each. As Lodestone increase its renewable asset portfolio, our team will take on another three solar parks under the same contract. Our team in Devon will soon be remotely monitoring performance of five solar farms in New Zealand.
“Lodestone is delighted to have Ethical Power monitoring our solar farm SCADA systems around the clock,” says Richard Pearce, COO of Lodestone Energy. “Since day one, the Ethical Power team has proactively alerted us to any irregular operating conditions or plant status alarms. This enables the Lodestone team and our operations and maintenance contractor to respond promptly and efficiently.”
We asked Henry de Viell, our Performance Manager, “How does this contract differ from our UK contracts and what adaptions need to be made?”
“Clients in New Zealand use different systems and assets that operate in tandem with the grid, unlike the ones in the UK. These differences meant that we needed to introduce some changes to our operational manuals”.
“Our portfolio in the UK is primarily managed through InAccess and other cloud solutions, whereas the new New Zealand sites have a bespoke local solution which we have been able to adapt our processes to support. Working closely with Lodestone Energy, we have been able to roll out a comprehensive training package to our staff, to ensure that all aspects of the systems are covered and that we can promptly and accurately respond to everything happening on site.
The first month of our work has gone smoothly and we look forward to working with Lodestone on further projects in the future.
This is an exciting opportunity for our performance monitoring team and it’s a continuation of Ethical Powers global expansion within the renewables industry.
About Lodestone Energy
Lodestone Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation company that specialises in the construction and operation of photovoltaic power stations.
About Ethical Power
Ethical Power is the UK’s only independent vertically integrated renewable energy company. Its end-to-end capabilities set the standards for development, design, construction and operations of green energy infrastructure projects. It delivers unrivalled build quality and asset performance and provides innovative technologies and solutions to the challenges of the modern energy industry.