LOCATION
Hobart, Tasmania
PRODUCTS
Allen-Bradley | Rockwell Automation | Motor Control | Energy Management
The Introduction
With a strong focus on sustainability through world leading technology, Tasmanian salmon producer, Tassal, is internationally recognised for their innovative operations. Sustainably producing quality salmon for over 25 years, Tassal has created a reputation benchmarking the salmon industry and paving the way for an ecological approach to salmon harvesting across the industry.
Based in Tasmania (as the name would suggest – TASmanian SALmon), Tassal’s location has the advantage of being naturally biosecure as well as providing favourable temperatures to aid in the production of salmon.
The overview
In response to growing demand and to maintain their sustainable approach to salmon farming, the company’s Rookwood Road Hatchery recently undertook an upgrade which leant on the support of a number of other local companies, central to which were NHP.
With a three year lifecycle from egg to harvest, salmon at the Rookwood Road Hatchery are incubated, hatched and then grow for half their life, at which stage they are classified as smolt. To service the hatchery’s production capacity of close to 9 million smolt per year, a number of 5 metre deep smolt tanks are used to mimic the salmons’ natural life and prepare them for the next stage of their development in the sea leases – key to the site upgrade was increasing the operational smolt tanks on site.
“At Rockwood Road we have 27 operational smolt tanks and to increase our production we undertook a site upgrade which resulted in the construction of another 9 smolt tanks, each capable of housing 100,000 salmon at a time,” said Bruce Fyfe, Tassal’s Power and Automation Manager.
“Considering this, the occurrence of a failure or machine pollution within the facility’s operations would not only result in losing an entire tank but also millions of dollars. To prevent this, we require quality products and control capability for all aspects of our operation, ranging from biofilter water treatments and risk mitigation systems to processing and hatchery recirculation,” Fyfe continued.
When consulted in the early stages of the project, NHP provided a fully engineered system that addressed all of these considerations. With a completely integrated automation solution,NHP supplied Allen-Bradley Soft Starters, Variable Speed Drives (VSD), and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). To accompany this, Tassal required a suite of software products and network equipment, including Rockwell Automation’s SCADA, communications software, and PLC programming. As well as automation solutions, NHP also provided the complete Power Distribution requirements and assisted with a Power Factor Correction system, Motor Control devices and climate control.
The Solution
“We choose NHP products because of the quality and reliability aspect that is crucial to our operation at Tassal. To compliment the products is the personalised service we receive out of their Hobart branch. It is extremely beneficial to have a local representative in contact daily to help with any help we may require,” Fyfe continued.
In addition to NHP, throughout the project Tassal were also supported by Samco Switchboards, Alta Power Industries Switchboards, RBD Contracting and Griggs Reardon Contracting. It was this collaborative approach between suppliers that understood the local environment and marketplace that NHP’s Sales Representative for the project, Lewis Holeywell, believed made all the difference when it came to its successful delivery.
“Backed by our national network of branches and engineering expertise, we were able to deliver competitive and quick pricing along with access to a local stock holding. Working alongside the switchboard builders and consultants on the project, this proved to be a real advantage in delivering the project successfully,” Holeywell said.
Following the Rockwood Road upgrade, Tassal remains heavily invested in research and development techniques to enhance their operations. As the highest employer in the private sector of Tasmania, in addition to priding themselves on zero-harm and sustainable farming, Tassal are also committed to supporting the local community through initiatives that positively contribute to local events, clubs, schools, farmers and not-for-profit organisations.
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For more information or any other inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact NHP. Our team is ready to assist you.
