Loy Yang Power Station, Australia
Australia's Loy Yang Power owns and operates the 2,200 megawatt Loy Yang power station and the adjacent Loy Yang coal mine. The company supplies approximately one third of the state of Victoria's power requirements or 10 per cent of total generation for the south-eastern seaboard states.
"QS² technology's reliability coupled with Tait's ability to provide manufacturer's support is the reason the QS² solution was chosen for Loy Yang's upgrade."
Craig Ross
Crosscom
The Customer
Australia's Loy Yang Power owns and operates the 2,200 megawatt Loy Yang power station and the adjacent Loy Yang coal mine. The company supplies approximately one third of the state of Victoria's power requirements or 10 per cent of total generation for the south-eastern seaboard states.
The Challenge
Loy Yang needed a radio solution that would improve staff safety and any logistical issues that might interrupt daily business activities. Coverage was minimal in some areas of the 175m-deep open cut mine, meaning staff could have substandard radio communication when it was needed most. In addition, radio users were unable to automatically change channels when going from one site to another.
Poor coverage also had the potential to impact on the timely delivery of coal to the power station. With 100-120 staff using the mobile radio system at any one time, communication is paramount to the site's operation and the safety of all workers. The site required a radio solution which allowed staff to move from the power station site to the mine site seamlessly without the need to change channels. Concurrently the new system was also required to provide better coverage and reduce the occurrence of black spots.
Because Loy Yang is working 24 hours a day to supply one third of Victoria's power requirements, the system installation required needed to be transparent, they could not afford to shut down.
The Solution
Tait partnered with dealer Crosscom to develop a total systems solution for Loy Yang. A cost-effective turnkey solution was achieved through the installation of a two-site, four channel UHF TaitNet QS² Simulcast system. The TaitNet QS² installation process was one of many advantages simulcast had for Loy Yang's operations.
The TaitNet QS² Digital Signal Processing (DSP)-based Line Equaliser Modules mean it can route audio to each transmitter, analyse the characteristics of a neighbouring transmitter and automatically adapt their own signals to match. This exceptional ability to overlay its control equipment over the existing base station infrastructure meant practically no disruptions to the work site.
The QS² system overcomes the problem of dead spots by having one repeater site chosen to provide good coverage to all areas in the mine and another site on top of the power station to provide coverage to all areas surrounding the mine. With radio coverage saturated throughout the working area, staff no longer need to manually change channels.
The Outcome
The system was installed quickly, and had it not been for the increased coverage and the new seamless communication between the two sites, the new installation may have gone totally unnoticed by Loy Yang's 500 plus employees. Tait and Tait dealer Crosscom provided Loy Yang with a critical, reliable "all informed" communication system. This was done cost-effectively; utilising absolute minimum of spectrum.
The safety of mine personnel has been enhanced as they can now travel anywhere in the mine and surrounding area with the confidence they can communicate while remaining on the one channel.
