High voltage learning during the Christchurch earthquakes

Well, I've finished with lines in the interim until later this month. In the meantime I'm going to be spending some time in 'Subs' and the 'Test room' Departments. Work log: Monday 2 May: SUBS; Brookside and Hororata Substations; repair design fault with approved manufacturer's rewire. Brookside substation Switchgear at Brookside substation Hororata Substation. The windows broken in the 4 September 2010 quake have been covered with wood. Tuesday 3 May: Wire control unit in workshop. Wednesday 4 May: Greendale Substation; Move and permanently wire communications unit. Greendale substation.. yes, it's practically on the fault line. Control units inside the substation Evidence of the explosion that occurred at the back of a circuit breaker during the M7.1 earthquake. Substation yard gates... do they line up?!! Thursday 5 May: TEST ROOM; Isolate and earth faulty 11kV cables, Opawa Rd bridge and near AMI stadium. Also rec...

Tuesday 1 st February Before quakes and demolition         After demolition Today we were working at the demolition site of Manchester Courts on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Streets. This was considered to be one of the iconic casualty sites of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake of September 4 2010. This building was also the first 'skyscraper' in the Southern Hemisphere, being of brick construction and 10 storeys tall. The building was demolished due to concerns about its structural integrity. During demolition, an electrical kiosk was damaged, and the decision was made to move the kiosk location and replace it with a new one. Traffic lights and street lights were damaged also. I was working today with Ivor, Reece, Jeff and Jamie. Connetics, being owned by Orion (Christchurch's electricity network owner) and having a staff complement of 250, has specialist digging crews and machinery. This is extremely useful as the cable jointing crews can concentr...