24 July 2013

Anglesey Aquaculture, the UK's only producer of fresh sustainably farmed sea bass, has just contracted Quartzelec to deliver all its high voltage maintenance provision over the next four years, including an emergency response service.

“Our onsite generators and electrical systems are absolutely critical to our environmentally friendly fish farming process,” explained John Watters, Managing Director of Anglesey Aquaculture. “Operating in such a remote location means we can regularly be affected by energy supply issues and a complete failure could quickly result in the total loss of all our fish. We had to select a maintenance partner that we were totally confident in from the outset and one that could provide a dependable, yet cost effective solution. Quartzelec clearly demonstrated that it had the expertise, flexibility, ability and geographical coverage to meet all our ongoing electrical requirements.”

In addition to overseeing the regular preventative maintenance of the generators, Quartzelec will be responsible for maintaining other onsite HV (transformer) assets; switch room equipment and LV air circuit breakers. Additional services within the four year contract will include sub-inspections, intrusive maintenance, oil testing and the provision of an emergency response service.

“Over the past 18-months Quartzelec has rapidly expanded its HV contracting and maintenance activities, securing a number of prestigious and/or mission critical contracts across the UK,” stated Stephen Marsden Quartzelec’s Wrexham based HV Business Manager. “Whilst this contract is not large, we are acutely aware of the importance of structured and dependable service delivery in maintaining a controlled environment and the resulting wellbeing of the fish stocks. Anglesey Aquaculture is driving the development and adoption of land-based aquaculture and this solution will play a key role in the future of global sustainable food production.”

The fish, which arrive as 1.5g farm-bred fingerlings and presently harvested when about 420g, are kept in land-based recirculation tanks that are constantly being supplied with pumped oxygenated water from the Irish Sea. This is key to the plant’s environmental record as it means they cannot escape or interact with wild species; one of the problems associated with open-net salmon and other fish farms.

Quartzelec have an annual turnover in excess of £50m and a heritage that stretches back more than 80 years. Their electrical contracting business currently maintains more than 7500 customer assets at over 450 customer sites across the UK plus it has invested significantly in electrical Health and Safety procedures to ensure a safe environment for both employees and customers.