What defence procurement teams should look for in a critical infrastructure contractor
Defence procurement teams should prioritise four things when assessing a critical infrastructure contractor.
Self-sufficient standalone power systems built for the conditions of regional and remote Australia. Designed, installed, and maintained in-house by DCE.
The design approach integrates solar, battery storage, and diesel backup as a coherent whole – sized for the load, built for the environment, and designed to keep working without requiring frequent on-site maintenance.
The in-house logistics fleet means DCE can get to the site with everything it needs, including the screw pile rigs that often replace concrete foundations in remote settings.
A significant portion of the infrastructure DCE works on sits in locations where connection to the electricity grid is not practical or not economic. Remote telco sites, mine-site facilities, regional utilities infrastructure, rural community power systems - all of them need power that works reliably and can be maintained by a team that can actually reach the site.
Modular solar array design and installation, sized for the remote load requirement and optimised for the site's solar resource.
Battery energy storage systems integrated for overnight and peak-demand supply, with appropriate redundancy for the application.
Hybrid diesel backup for periods of low solar generation integrated into the full system design and managed to minimise fuel consumption.
Full electrical distribution from source to load, designed, installed, and commissioned by DCE.
System performance monitoring and remote management capability, reducing the need for frequent site visits.
Preventative and corrective maintenance by the DCE team, including full logistics support to reach the site.
Articles, technical guides, and project perspectives.
Defence procurement teams should prioritise four things when assessing a critical infrastructure contractor.
In head-to-head comparisons against poured concrete footings, screw pile foundations have delivered total foundation cost reductions of up to 54% on remote sites.
Off-grid power systems are removing the biggest constraint on remote mining: the cost and risk of running everything on trucked-in diesel.