Meridian Energy has introduced a new underwater robot to carry out inspections at its hydroelectric stations, reducing the need for divers and minimising equipment downtime.
The robot, built in New Zealand, is currently being trialled at the Benmore Power Station in the South Island. It was developed by Bay Dynamics NZ, a Tauranga-based company that supplies underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for infrastructure inspections.
“Until now we’ve used divers to manually inspect underwater assets like canals, dams and spillways,” said Meridian GM Generation Tania Palmer. “That requires heaps of safety precautions and is reliant on good diving conditions to do the job well.
“The other way to do it is by dewatering areas, which can take days and keeps our units out for a long time – that’s not great heading into winter. We wanted to find a safe, efficient solution that kept outages to a minimum, so that we can focus on generating more electricity for New Zealand. The solution was obvious – robots.”
Meredian said international ROV options were considered but proved expensive and were often only available for hire. Meridian turned to Bay Dynamics NZ for a customised solution suited to local conditions.
“We searched out the best technologies from around the world and combined them with our own in-house designed parts to create the BlueROV-C, a commercial grade ROV with modularity at its core,” said Bay Dynamics NZ Technical Director Matt Mooney. “In other words, it’s cutting-edge Kiwi tech that can easily be adapted for Meridian’s future needs.”
Meridian said the robot is already proving useful in inspecting difficult-to-reach areas.
“It’s performing really well on underwater inspections in medium to low flow environments, which is perfect for our hydro dams. Its small size and manoeuvrability means we’re able to safelyinspect areas that divers physically can’t get to,” said Palmer. “Having a local provider is a huge advantage for being able to make fast changes to the ROV, and feels good to invest in homegrown technology. It’s Kiwi ingenuity supporting Kiwi electricity!”
