Number of turbines Turbine capacity Blade length Tower height
55 0.66 MW 23.5m 50m

The second stage of the Tararua wind farm project was a huge success – commissioned in 2004, this brought the total number of operating turbines to 103 with a total installed capacity of 67MW.

Blackley Construction assisted the project through trenching and installing all the required cabling onsite. Combined with the Stage 1 installation, this wind farm was supplying 32,000 Kiwi homes with their daily energy requirements – we’re happy that we could help!

Even today, the project has been claimed to continue at the best possible capacity – nearly 20-years later!

The fact that the wind farm is operating as well as it was 20-years ago instils us with pride. We follow a three-part process to ensure this:

  • We excavate an accurate and consistent trench with GPS technology
  • We control the amount of bedding material placed and handle cabling as little as possible, reducing the risks associated with cable handling

This is important as not only is it benefiting the wind farm owner and the longevity of the wind farms, but also it serves the everyday Kiwi household that relies on the energy from the wind farm.

We’re glad to have helped Kiwi homes thrive over the past 20-years and are excited to be a part of a greener move towards energy production.

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Number of turbines Turbine capacity Blade length Tower height
55 1.65MW 35m 70m

Te Apiti wind farm began construction in November 2003. It is located 10km out of Palmerston North and began generating electricity in August 2004.

Overall, the wind farm annually generates enough electricity to power 45,000 New Zealand homes. Although, the process to develop the wind farm was mighty. In February 2004, the site was flooded due to a 100-year flood – this had interfered with the project over a 6-week period.

The wind farm’s location created what’s called a ‘wind funnel’, perfectly positioned to catch the winds from the Tasman Sea, complimented by the Manawatū Gorge. Thanks to this, the turbines have a maximum speed of 17 revolutions per minute.

The site’s steep terrain made it a welcome challenge to our team – who doesn’t love a good problem to solve?

We’re proud to have been able to work on Te Apiti Windfarm, helping power New Zealand homes with clean, green energy.

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Tararua

 

Number of turbines Turbine capacity Blade length Tower height
48 0.66 MW 23.5m 50m

 

The first stage of the Tararua wind farm project was a large-scale project, and when it was completed, it was the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere at the time. Not only that, but the site was the best performing wind farm in the world for multiple years – delivering over twice the expected electricity production. It’s expected that the first stage of the wind farm project would have supplied 16,000 Kiwi homes with their daily energy requirements – approximately half the size of Palmerston North’s occupied dwellings.

As our first wind farm project, we were excited to hit the ground running on Christmas Eve, 1999. Our role throughout the project was to trench and cable the land to ensure that everything was perfect for the installation.

The Tararua site was a great choice for the wind farm to be set up, due to the positioning of the turbines to capture most of the wind rolling through the mountainous terrain.

We are proud of the work that we put into the farm that kept Aotearoa’s lights on, heaters burning away throughout winter, as well as the clean energy that is produced from the farm.

This project was the catalyst that started our 20-year journey through wind farm trenching and cabling.

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Blackley Constructions’ staff trenched 389 metres along Princess Street at approx 1metre deep and removed the existing live sewer pipe and laid a new PVC pipe using a grade laser to ensure correct fall on the pipes. There were 4 manholes that also required replacement along this trenchline of varying sizes. The fall on this pipe was very slight and required close attention to ensure that the pipe line continued to flow.

Work was made more challenging due to the shallow wastewater pipe having other shallow services within close proximity and lateral connections that were encased in concrete.

As with all jobs involving hazardous and biological waste Blackley Constructions’ Enviromental and Health and Safety procedures were paramount for our staff while carrying out this work.

Key features of the work and/or statistics:

  • Dig, lay and backfill 389 metres of sewer main 150mm PVC
  • Remove 4 x existing manholes and install 4 x new manholes
  • Dig, lay and backfill 16 lateral connections

Key equipment used:

  • Hydrovac Truck
  • Trucks – various
  • 5T Excavator
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Railway Road Stormwater2
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This job involved trenching on a diagonal across a busy main arterial route into Palmerston North. Due to the angle of the trench Stop/Go traffic mgmt was employed to manage the traffic and the safety of Blackley staff.

It was critically important that the grade of the new stormwater pipe was 100% accurate as the client would continue the trench at a later date themselves inside the property boundary to meet with a manhole already installed 100m away. Engineers from Stringfellows worked closely with Blackley staff that were undertaking the work.

The depth of the excavation meant that a 13.5T excavator was required along with heavy duty metal shoring that had to be lifted in and out of the trench to ensure staff safety during the laying of the pipe and during compaction. Confined space entry procedures were put in place for entry into the existing manhole due to its depth.

Wet ground conditions from inside the client property provided some challenges once excavation started into the berm and past the property boundary but staff worked diligently throughout the entire project to ensure the work was completed within 1 week and that normal traffic flows were restored as soon as possible.

Key features of the work and/or statistics:

  • Install 300mm diameter concrete stormwater pipe across Railway Road (approx 30m)
  • Laid to specific grade to connect with future duct line and sump 100m into client property
  • Trench 3.3m deep x 1.2m wide

Key equipment used:

  • 5T Excavator
  • 2-3 x 12Tonne Trucks
  • Safety Harness & Tripod
  • Grade Laser
  • 3.0mx 2.5m Metal Cages with adjustable struts (Safety Shoring)
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This project was located between Feilding and Cheltenham along Kimbolton Road (SH54). This project started on schedule as agreed with the client and finished three weeks ahead of schedule and under budget.

There were several drain crossings that we had to contend with, however with a robust Environmental management plan in place this enabled our crew to work efficiently through these obstacles.

Key features of the work and/or statistics:

  • We open trenched and laid approximately 8.6km of new 33kV single core 185mm2 ALI XLPE UG power Cable (tr-foiled) by a combination of two methods which were chain trenching and open cutting (excavator)
  • For this project we also installed lV 150mm PVC power ducting and 80mm PVC ducting, which was utilised to secure new cables to the side of existing power poles

Key equipment used:

  • Morooka (track truck)
  • Interdrain Rock Chain Trencher (20T)
  • Massey Ferguson Tractor c/with cable jinker
  • 11.5T Excavator and 7T Excavator (Kobelco brand) Hydro Vac Truck
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To carry on from our Wellington Stadium success, we successfully tendered the construction of the turf areas for the Manawatu Athletics Track at Massey University. We once again were able to work closely with the Consultant (NZ Sports Turf Institute) and Head Contractor (Higgins Contractors Ltd) to produce an all soil profile to International Standards and are again very proud of the result.

We have also completed a number of smaller projects for councils and school playing fields, such as:

  • Fitzherbert Park Oval Palmerston North – Drainage design and build, wicket block construction, including irrigation
  • Ongley Park, Palmerston North – Drainage design and build
  • New Plymouth Boys High School – Drainage of rugby field
  • Russell Street School, Palmerston North – Drainage design and build
  • Feilding Agricultural High School – Design build
  • Manawatu Racing Club – Track drainage
  • Scotts College – Drainage and irrigation

Key features of the work and/or Statistics:

  • Drainage, irrigation and soil profile (playing surface) construction
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We have been involved in sports field development for many years.

At the Stadium, we initially installed subsoil drainage, then we got involved with earthworks and finally our ability to be innovative won us the contract to construct the playing surface at the WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington.

This was a major contract for the company using a design philosophy that had not been constructed on a project of this size before in New Zealand. We were able to work closely with the consultant (NZ Sports Turf Institute) and the head contractor (Fletcher Construction Ltd) to produce a sand over gravel profile to International Standards with an end result we could be (and still are) very proud of. Many staff members put in long hours and hard work to produce the results.

Key features of the work and/or statistics:

  • 7930 tonnes of Merricks sand
  • 2800 tonnes of drainage gravel
  • 2100 metres of 110 mm drainage pipe
  • 120 cubic metres of zeolite
  • 90 cubic metres of Patumahoe clay
  • 900 kg of grass seed
  • 1200 kg of fertiliser
  • Contract value $773,915
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With time constraints being an issue, Blackley Construction were engaged on a labour/ machine-only contract to install twin 1350mm Diameter concrete pipes through a stopbank. Whittikers provided the grade and alignment as the requirement was to maintain flood protection at all times. The first section of pipes had to be laid and then the stopbank relocated over top of them to provide this flood protection. The second section of pipes were then laid on foundations that included weak flowable concrete, a seepage collar and finally polystyrene.

Laying pipes on polystyrene provided many challenges as the sinkage of the pipes into the polystyrene had to be allowed for. The pipes were laid to grade and on line. Once the pipe-laying was complete, Blackley Construction relocated the stopbank a second time back to its original alignment. This was compaction tested as it was constructed, with all tests passing.

Key features of the work and/or Statistics

  • The project involved us laying to grade twin 1350mm diameter concrete pipes through a stopbank to match up with the outfall of a pump chamber.
  • We installed a total length of 90m of pipe.

Key equipment used:

  • Compaction rollers & hand compaction equipment
  • Rotary Lasers
  • Kobelco SK210, SK135 & Hitachi ZX 200 excavators
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213 Stoney Creek Road, RD10, Palmerston North, 4470

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