Shaun Blackie at Pacific Hydro's Challicum Hills wind farm. Photo Pacific Hydro
#4 Shaun Blackie: wind farm supervisor, Pacific Hydro
When the 220,000 volts generated by the windmills at Pacific Hydro’s newest wind farm project near Portland need to be switched off, Shaun Blackie is the person to do it. Shaun, a wind farm supervisor, was previously employed as a line worker for Powercor and is now in his fifth year at Pacific Hydro.
His role entails overseeing maintenance work at three wind farms in Victoria – Codrington and Yambuk, both near Port Fairy, and Challicum Hills, east of Ararat.
Each farm has between 14 and 35 wind generators, which are serviced every six months.
“I make sure the maintenance gets done and that health and safety is maintained,” Shaun says.
The maintenance work is both mechanical and electrical.
“The generators are machines; they need greasing, topping-up of oil and the replacement of parts due to wear and tear.”
Although much of the mechanical maintenance is done by contractors, Shaun’s training in high-voltage maintenance and operation is called upon as required.
“I do the high-voltage operating on the three farms, switching up to 66,000 volts and turning the power on and off for maintenance or if [electricity supplier] Powercor has work to do,” he says.
“I also oversee the interface between the land-holders and Pacific Hydro and between Powercor and Pacific Hydro.”
Between them, the three wind farms overseen by Shaun generate more than 100 MW of electricity, enough to power 53,000 homes a year while reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 380,000 tonnes.
“When this job came up it was a chance to get involved in the generation side of electricity,” he says.
“The green side of the work was a feel-good thing for me: that instead of polluting the skies we are generating green power.”
Maintaining health and safety is a big part of Shaun’s work. The wind generators stand at around 70 metres, which means Shaun undertakes regular heights and rescue training. He must be able to abseil from the top of the wind generator and also rescue workers from the generator, particularly if they are injured while performing maintenance work.
