At the Newcastle Division's 2012
Engineering Excellence Awards on Friday 11th May the
development of the SeaUrchin™ hydro-kinetic turbine was recognised as the
winner three categories: "Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Award";
"Excellence Award" and the "Overall Winner Award". As a joint entrant
with Elemental Energy Technologies Limited, RPC Technologies and e3k the ATSA
team enjoyed a night of celebration at the prestigious 'black tie' event held
at the Newcastle Town Hall.
Other projects assessed by the
judging panel in a field of 16 finalists included BHP Billiton's $100m plus
remediation of the Hunter River and the $1 billion plus Ballina By-Pass
project.
The Engineers Australia judges
were impressed by the way EET, ATSA, e3k and RPC Technologies worked
collaboratively on the project to develop the initial 2kW SeaUrchin™
design during 2010/11.
ATSA Director Darren Burrowes
said, "We were engaged by Elemental Energy Technologies Limited in support
of the design, development and test program for the SeaUrchin." The
capabilities and experience from our work on the "HUON" Class Minehunter
Coastal were used to plan and successfully conduct generator sea trials at
Newcastle and Sydney."ATSA is typical of small defence suppliers who have
responded to the need for SMEs to translate skills to commercial
applications. Our participation in the success of SeaUrchin demonstrates
the skills and capabilities we have developed in defence work are being applied
to emerging opportunities in CleanTech," Burrowes said.
The Newcastle Herald ran an 8
page supplement in Saturday's paper showcasing the awards and EET's win and
this article is in their web edition:
ATSA will now join EET and the
team for the Australian National Engineering Excellence Awards which will be
judged in Canberra in November 2012.
The SeaUrchin™ hydro-kinetic turbine under test in the ATSA Test Tank at Newcastle NSW
ATSA engineers celebrate with the team at the Excellence Awards (LtoR: Curtis Schur, Pierre Gouhier (RPC), Elizabeth Karpiel, Jose Mare, Darren Burrowes, Michael Urch (EET) and Ray Hope (e3k)
