New Zealand Electrolysis Committee

On the 31^st March 2010 the Auckland Division organised and conducted a Seminar at the Grand Chancellor Hotel (Auckland Airport) entitled "Electrical Interference Corrosion of BuriedInfrastructure and Related Issues". The Seminar Convenor was Mark Sigley, and the full-day program included several speakers from Australia. The organising committee also invited Mr Ian Booth the CEO of the ACA Centre in Melbourne to act as the Chairman for the Seminar.

The prime reason for holding the Seminar was to determine if there was a need to establish a New Zealand Electrolysis Committee (NZEC), as exists in most other ACA Branches. ACA NZ Branch provided seed funding for the Electrolysis Seminar, which assisted Victorian Electrolysis Committee Member Mr Alan Bryson to attend and speak. One driving force behind this event was the present AC electrification of the Auckland rail network. 35 people attended the free Electrolysis Seminar from around the country. Importantly, representatives were present from the three main NZ centres which have DC traction electrified rail and tramway systems operating, viz., Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

After the Electrolysis Seminar introduction by Ian Booth, six speakers gave formal presentations, as follows: Les Boulton (LBA, Auckland) "Winning the war against corrosion" Wayne Speer (Savcor ART, Auckland) "Some typical interference examples" Mark Sigley (WSL, Auckland), "Watercare CP system interference" Rodney Urban (Aecom, Christchurch) "AC corrosion hazards and the Auckland rail electrification" Wayne Burns (Anode Engineering, Brisbane) "Queensland Electrolysis Committee" Alan Bryson (Corrosion Manager, APA Group, Melbourne) "Victorian Electrolysis Committee". The formal presentations were followed by an extensive Q&A and discussion session, led by Ian Booth. After the discussion session the following people attending the seminar were elected onto the establishment committee for the "NZ Electrolysis Committee" (NZEC). Chairman: Mark Sigley (WSL). Committee: R.Urban (Aecom), G.Street (Electrix), Powerco representative, W.Burns (Anode Engineering), M.Boardman (LineTech/Transpower), S.Ryder (GHD), R.D'Ath (Plant & Platform Consultants), D. Cawley (Vector Gas), R. El Sarraf (HERA), A. Gabriel (ACA NZ President). The first task of the interim Committee is to "establish the NZEC which will institute and foster mitigation of corrosion interference involving underground and other at risk assets". The Committee will present its first report on the NZEC formation to ACA within 2 months and a formal report within 6 months. The successful Electrolysis Seminar has resulted in the key objective for the event being reached, with an interim New Zealand Electrolysis Committee being established under the auspices of ACA NZ Branch.