Since launching in April 2015, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Australia’s initiative EWB Connect has successfully matched 12 community groups who need professional expertise to realise their visions with engineering, design and construction companies who are happy to provide pro bono services.
EWB Connect Program Lead, Lizzie Brown, says “The engineering profession has valuable skills that are critical to inclusive and sustainable development. The profession has a responsibility to use those skills where they can, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised groups that can’t access them otherwise.”
“There is a huge opportunity for professional services and construction companies to take a more strategic approach to pro bono work and deliver significant value to the Australian community.”
EWB Connect now has 12 community members, six corporate members including Arup, Aurecon, Aecom, GHD, DNV GL and WPS Parsons Brinkerhoff, and support from multiple architectural firms.
Two early projects include an Indigenous water supply project in Cape York and a wind farm in Victoria.
Indigenous water supply project
The Lama Lama people in Cape York have been struggling with water issues for nearly a decade, but needed detailed designs and costings to source funding for new infrastructure.
Gavin Bassani, local Lama Lama man and head of the Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) explains; “The situation has become critical for the 50 or so people who live in the Port Stewart area. We are currently pumping from a 44-gallon drum hand dug into the sand of the Port Stewart River after our original water intake was destroyed by a cyclone in 2006.”
The YAC employ over 25 local people in a successful ranger program and other activities, but lack of reliable water is impeding their capacity to develop conservation, cultural and economic initiatives.
This project is one of many potential EWB Connect collaborations with national Indigenous organisation, The Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT).
Andre Grant,Team Leader for CAT in Queensland, says “It’s very difficult to secure funding for this kind of remote work without a costly detailed design. We brought the Lama Lama people’s issue to EWB as we knew EWB Connect could be a solution.”
Arup, one of EWB Connect’s founding members, agreed to provide specialist water engineering services on a pro bono basis, and worked with CAT and the local community to design a robust, long term, fully costed, reliable solution.
Senior Water Engineer at Arup, Sam Koci, has worked in water infrastructure design and management in remote Indigenous communities for a number of years. He says the existing water supply is well below acceptable standards and presents a number of operational and health risks to the community.
“The previous intake structure was destroyed by flooding so the new design needed to balance the need for a robust technical solution with the limited funds available for construction, as well as the limited information on which to base the design, including minimal survey and geotechnical information.”
“The scale of the wet season means the intake may be inaccessible for months at a time - in a river inhabited by crocodiles – so we needed to consider how the pumps could be safely retrieved with the limited equipment available.”
The new design will see the intake, pump and screens completely buried below the bed sand and riverbank to protect them from flooding. New, solar powered pumps will be retrievable from the top of the riverbank and require minimal operation and maintenance.
Completion of the detailed design for the new structure has enabled the Lama Lama and CAT to obtain cost estimates and they are now confident in securing funding.
Woodend community wind farm assessment
On a high site on the Great Divide six kilometres south of Woodend, a test site has been established for the Woodend Community Wind Farm. The site is on crown land, close to the electricity grid, and is currently leased as a pine planation. It was chosen after desktop modelling by DNV GL indicated it was the windiest spot on the ridge.
Local resident Barry Mann, a Principal Hydrogeologist and National Remediation Co-ordinator for GHD, is leading efforts by the 200 strong Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group (MRSG) to establish the community owned wind farm.
Embark, a non-profit organisation focused on shifting the community renewable energy sector into the mainstream, brought the project to the attention of EWB Connect. EWB and Embark are working in partnership to help community organisations like MRSG realise their visions.
The key to getting this project off the ground is ‘bankable' data which is obtained via a wind monitoring system known as a MET mast. A wind mast was installed at the test site in February 2016 and is busy measuring wind speed and direction with anemometers collecting data at three different heights - 20, 40 and 60 metres.
The initial data looks promising, but needs to be collected for a minimum 12-month period to show wind variations across every season.
Barry explains, “If the data indicates we have an excellent wind resource, and the DNV GL analysis of the energy yield assessment and business modelling comes up with the right numbers, then that will be the basis for approaching the community and financial institutions with a prospectus detailing options and predicted returns.
DNV GL are providing pro bono technical support that includes advising on the ideal location of the MET mast, placement of the anemometer sensors, and scenario modelling and analysis to explore wind turbine layout options to produce the optimum amount of energy from the site.
Catherine Williams, Senior Engineer from DNV GL, believes the main challenges will be attaining high quality data and incorporating changes to the proposed site. “The MET mast is in a heavily forested area, but this forest is mature and being harvested. We need to understand and account for that, as it will influence measurements and future modelling.”
Lizzie says, “EWB Connect is looking for more organisations like Arup and DNV GL to contribute to community projects. In return, they realise a broad range of benefits from attracting the best employees, skills development and the opportunity to demonstrate their company’s commitment to the communities in which they operate.”
For more information visit:
EWB Connect
Embark
The Centre for Appropriate Technology
[Image - Pictured at the Woodend Community Wind Farm (L-R): Robert Brunton, Ralf Thesing, Peter Mansford, Jon Morgan, Barry Mann. Credit: Jeff McAllister.]
Don't forget to register for the Australian Engineering Conference 2016 in Brisbane on November 23-25.