Case Study
Geophysical: Sun Cable
Customer: Guardian Geomatics
Project: SunCable’s AAPowerLink
Duration: 21 months
Location: Darwin (Australia), Indonesia and Singapore
Key products: Geophysical equipment
Lead STR team members: Jason French, Regional Director and Steve Harris, Regional Operations Manager
“STR was crucial to this project's success. The initial capital investment required to obtain this mission-critical sensor technology in time for this project would have been prohibitive.
Tapping into STR’s pool of equipment enabled Guardian Geomatics to get this project started to meet SunCable’s requirements, and having STR personnel involved in the ongoing maintenance of the sensory technology, allowed our staff to do what they do best, acquire quality geophysical data in a variety water depths and conditions. When we were required to increase the number of vessels in the field again, we could tap into the STR equipment pool.”
Steve Duffield, Director – Guardian Geomatics
Project overview
STR’s innovative geophysical equipment and world class technical support were required to support our customer, Guardian Geomatics, with its bid for SunCable’s flagship development project, Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink), helping to overcome the complexities of subsea surveys and working across multiple continents.
As one of the most ambitious renewable energy generation and transmission projects in Australia, AAPowerLink is particularly high profile. Not only does it involve the creation of the world’s largest solar farm, it also requires the longest undersea cable and the largest battery in the world at 36 to 42 gigawatt-hours. On completion, this project will be the world’s biggest integrated renewable energy and battery storage facility.
A 4,200km DC power cable will run from the Powell Creek Solar Precinct in Darwin, through the territory of Indonesia and into Singapore. As a result, this large scale solar project aims to provide as much as 15% of Singapore’s electricity needs, offering the country a degree of energy independence from Malaysia where it currently has to purchase gas to fuel traditional power generation.
Our solution
Guardian Geomatics has been a key customer for STR since we first expanded to Australia in 2018. This meant we were involved in project discussions right from its initial bid which focused on traditional towed/vessel-mounted sensors as an alternative to AUV surveys.
The project required a significant amount of STR’s geophysical equipment across two phases of work when conducting site investigations for the power cable route survey. The first phase was from Darwin to the border of Australia and Indonesia, while the second phase was through Indonesian territory and eventually to Singapore. Initially, this involved one vessel, however, multiple other vessels were later utilised.
Specialist geophysical equipment
Our team in the Asia Pacific region has gained extensive experience in the intricacies of operating in deep water, which meant we could confidently advise on the best technology before providing a suite of specialist geophysical products that integrated with Guardian Geomatics' own equipment. To effectively study the route we supplied the following:
A 6000m hydraulic winch, converted from previous ROV umbilical use
Brand new Edgetech 2050 systems
Deep-water Multibeam Echosounder
Unrivalled technical support and expertise
Requiring assistance with logistics to enable the products to arrive at the mobilisation location efficiently as well as additional technical support, we onboarded a full-time STR Field Engineer to ensure the best chance of success and uptime for the equipment on the job.
As part of the project and through the expertise of our engineer, we were able to technically review some of the equipment choices and suggest minor adjustments to optimise performance. Additionally, we were responsible for overseeing the conversion of the ex-ROV umbilical winch to ensure it would be compatible with our Sidescan Sonar technology. This involved some mechanical upgrades and the addition of a remote control system with associated testing.
Challenges faced
With multiple countries involved in the project, there were several complexities to address, including:
Imports and exports
Permitting issues
Challenges of working in deep water
Commencement of the project in Indonesia was particularly challenging, as this was a unique job with very little precedent set when it came to applying for work permits. Also, due to the nature of the work area, the equipment came into contact with a significant amount of fishing gear near the seabed and in the water column, which was important for the team to navigate.
Project success
Thanks to our global capabilities and STR offices in both Australia and Singapore, we are well equipped to support the project in both continents under one single team and supply products from one single source, further ensuring efficiency and reliability due to our unrivalled young and advanced fleet.
The standout success was the ability to utilise our STR engineer on the vessel, who was able to quickly resolve technical issues onboard by liaising with our extensive onshore support network. This highlights the world-class offering of equipment and technical support STR has to offer, even in some of the largest projects.
