1. Chamath Wijeratne
Work History
Dec 2011 – Present Project Manager, Projects – High Density, Ausgrid
• Responsible for delivering network assets (>$10M) through project planning,
risk analysis, proposal, civil and electrical design, civil and electrical
construction, testing, commissioning and closeout stages.
• Managed the following projects:
o Rebuilding Canterbury 132kV/33kV 194MVA sub-transmission
substation ($45M brownfield) to replace equipment, which was
reaching end of serviceable life and mitigate safety issues.
§ Relocating capacitor banks, ripple filters, underground services
§ Constructing new control and switch room
§ Replacing 132kV and 33kV outdoor yards with indoor gas
insulated switchgear
§ 132kV (x4), 33kV (x19), 11kV and 415V feeder/circuit
augmentations
o Installation of 132kV Ring Main Circuit Breakers at Marrickville
132kV/11kV 72MVA zone substation ($18.6M brownfield) to
minimize the risk of outages due to transformer faults (improved
operation and reliability) of the associated transmission feeders.
§ Developed project proposal and execution plan
§ Demolishing existing amenities
§ Constructing new control and switch room
§ Installing 132kV GIS units
§ 132kV feeder (x4) connections
§ Green-field brownfield secondary systems integration
o Installation of 132kV Ring Main Circuit Breakers at St.Peters
132kV/11kV 87MVA zone substation ($22.5M brownfield) to
minimize the risk of outages due to transformer faults (improved
operation and reliability) of the associated transmission feeders.
§ Provided project management, construction and commissioning
advice for the.
§ Developed project proposal and execution plan
§ Demolishing existing structures, buildings
§ Relocating underground and overhead services
§ Constructing new control and switch rooms
§ Installing 132kV gas insulated switchgear
§ Installing 11kV/415V auxiliary substations
§ Augmenting 11kV and 415V services
o Replacing switchgear at Dulwich Hill 11kV 62MVA zone substation,
which is approaching end of serviceable life ($25.5M brownfield).
§ Underground service relocation
§ Construction of new switchroom
§ Equipment installation
§ Feeder transfers
o Replacing Hurstville North 132kV/11kV 66.7MVA zone substation
($31.1M greenfield) to supply forecast demand increases in the area.
§ Defect rectification of electrical installation
2. § Commissioning all primary and secondary equipment
§ 132kV feeder augmentations
§ Decommissioning old substation
o Kogarah 91H VT height platform to eliminate height safety risks to
operating staff.
o Canterbury No.3 Tx gantry replacement and refurbishment to eliminate
risks from gantry failure to personnel, equipment and network load.
Communication
• Developed and implemented communications plans for each project phase.
• Communicated to all relevant stakeholders complex work sequences required
to commission brownfield assets via presentations, one-on-one information
sessions, phone conversations, staging diagrams, commissioning plans and
network access plans.
• Ensured each workgroup understood expectations - questioned and regularly
sought feedback from key workgroup members.
• Communicated changes to complex commissioning programs via weekly
meetings, commissioning plans, network access plans, staging diagrams,
network switching/earthing/lock-out instructions, group discussions and one-
on-one dialogs.
Human Resources
• Managed the changing requirements of key stakeholders, internal service
providers, internal subject matter experts, internal clients, external consultants,
external regulatory authorities (e.g. city councils etc.) and community
members.
• Managed competing demands from key stakeholders.
• Resolved conflicts between staff, contractors, alliance partners and other
stakeholders.
• Managed up to four direct reports - project engineers, graduate engineers and
project construction superintendents.
• Identified and facilitated areas of development/improvement for engineers.
• Completed six-monthly or annual performance reviews for graduate engineers.
• Monitored the performance of Project Construction Superintendents.
• Identified knowledge gaps for Project Construction Superintendents.
• Provided training and mentoring to reduce knowledge and skill gaps.
Procurement
• Managed the procurement of equipment and services throughout the life cycle
of the project.
• Managed the evaluation and approval of variations and extensions of time.
• Reviewed procurement plans and tender documents.
• Evaluated tenders for civil construction work packages.
Risk
• Identified, controlled, monitored and managed project risks throughout the
project life cycle.
• Monthly review and update of risk registers.
• Facilitated and lead risk and opportunity workshops.
3. Change Management
• Managed changes to scope, schedule, network requirements and quality
standards throughout the life of the project.
• Practiced agile change management and minimized impacts from latent
conditions, organizational restructures, changes in network standards and
changes to client needs.
Cost Management
• Reviewed detailed project estimates and controlled project costs throughout
the project life cycle.
• Used Visual Basic for Applications, to automate the process of mapping cost
center expenditures (exported via SAP and Microsoft Access) to project cost
breakdown structures (Microsoft Excel) and performed earned value analysis
and forecast costs to complete.
• Facilitated value management workshops that delivered over $1M in cost
reductions for the Marrickville and St.Peters 132kV ring main circuit breaker
projects.
Quality
• Ensured key-deliverables at each project phase was completed to the required
quality.
• Ensured the Inspection, Test and Quality Plans were completed at the time of
energisation.
Safety and Environment
• Identified, controlled, monitored and managed Work Health and Safety risks
over the construction and commissioning phases.
• Developed situation-specific Safe Work Method Statements.
• Developed integrated Safety Management System to manage Work Health and
Safety of local and remote work sites and implemented this system via Site
Specific and Project Specific Safety Management Plans.
• Updated Safety Management Systems to comply with legislation as new codes
of practice etc. were released.
• Completed at least two work site inspections and safety interactions each
month for all active project sites.
Integration
• Developed project proposals for the Marrickville, St.Peters, Dulwich Hill and
Kogarah height platform projects.
• Provided monthly updates of key project performance indicators (schedule,
percentage complete, actuals vs. forecast cost to complete, safety and
environmental incidents etc.) to the board of directors.
• Facilitated Value Management workshops to deliver value outcomes for
clients and stakeholders.
Engineering and Technical skills
• Maintained detailed project schedules using the Primavera P6.
4. • Using Visual Basic for Applications, automated the process of mapping cost
center expenditures (exported via SAP and Microsoft Access) to project cost
breakdown structures (Microsoft Excel) and performed earned value analysis
and forecast costs to complete.
• Developed complex commissioning plans to construct, test and commission
brownfield network equipment.
• Wrote network element isolation, earthing and lockout instructions for the
Sydney Control room to facilitate the construction, testing and commissioning
activities.
• Assessed and balanced project needs (delays, cost increases etc.) with risk
exposure to personnel, equipment and customers (minimizing risk to network
loads).
• Trained project engineers to write network isolation work instructions.
• Managed the logistics and sequence of modifying/commissioning network
assets such as feeders, transformers, switchboards, ring-main-isolators, circuit
breakers, reactors, overhead transmission spans etc.
• Developed multi-variable optimization algorithms to sequence brownfield
132kV and 33kV feeder transfers.