McKay completes electrical works on Tauhei solar farm

McKay has completed the full electrical and balance-of-plant installation package for the 202 MWdc Tauhei Solar Farm in Waikato, New Zealand, adding to its work in large-scale solar infrastructure in the country.

The contract covered site establishment, trenching and cabling, low voltage, direct current and medium-voltage systems, inverter placement / set up, switching station works, fibre and SCADA installation, and testing and pre-commissioning. McKay worked alongside the engineering, procurement and construction contractor on the project.

Project scope

At the Te Aroha site, McKay installed a solar generated temporary power supply to the site compound. McKay also carried out trenching, conduit installation, cable laying, joint bay preparation and backfilling for LV , DC, MV, fibre and communications routes.

These works formed part of the broader balance-of-plant package for the 202 MWdc solar farm. Quality assurance inspections were completed at each stage of the civil and electrical installation works, according to the project description.

Electrical works

The direct current scope included installation of string cabling and 1500 V DC sub-array cabling, along with terminations into combiner boxes. McKay also installed the combiner boxes, and associated DC protection systems.

It McKay positioned and prepared inverter stations for service, including cable terminations, earthing and internal electrical fit-out, as part of its role in readying the plant for commissioning.

For the medium-voltage package, the team installed and terminated MV cables, completed 33 kV joints, added surge protection and carried out the full electrical scope for the MV switching room. McKay installed a complete earthing system inclusive of inverter ring mats and amin earthing loop throughout the site.

Renewables work

The Tauhei development sits within a wider build-out of utility-scale solar generation across New Zealand. McKay's renewables work also spans geothermal energy, wind energy and battery energy storage systems.

Its McKay solar work has included feasibility assessments, detailed electrical design, construction and commissioning on other projects in New Zealand. Tauhei illustrates the scale of electrical infrastructure being deployed as solar becomes a larger part of the national energy mix.

The project due to its size, sourced the majority of the labour requirements from local sources however also drew staff from across the country for peak work commitments, reflecting the labour and coordination demands of large solar developments. The work required integration across civil, electrical and communications systems on a single site.

McKay described the Tauhei scheme as an example of complex, multidisciplinary electrical construction delivered in coordination with EPC and structural teams.