NOJA Power’s $10 Million Investment

Electrical switchgear engineers NOJA Power today announces the opening of a multimillion dollar facility to complement the company’s existing Corporate Offices and Manufacturing Campus at its Brisbane headquarters. The new facility was completed in July, is now fully operational and adds 4300 m2 of enclosed space to the existing 4200 m2 office and factory building. The building is sited adjacent to the established plot and has enabled NOJA Power in Brisbane to merge the facilities into a single campus extending to over 16,000 m2.

The $10 million investment enables the company to enhance its R&D and test capabilities by bringing staff and facilities together in the new building. These facilities include an R&D electronics lab and a synthetic test lab capable of generating 38 kV/16 kA-, 600 kV impulse- and 200 kV power frequency-test voltages, in addition to temperature and humidity-, temperature rise- and salt fog-testing, for NOJA Power’s OSM series Automatic Circuit Reclosers (ACR or “auto-recloser”) and associated products. The new building will also allow the company to centralize its current onsite- and offsite-storage into one purpose-designed warehouse.

By moving the current onsite storage to the new building, NOJA Power is able to release space in the current factory to increase production of OSM series ACRs and VISI-SWITCH® Load Break Switch (LBS) products. In particular, the company is planning to hire 50 additional employees and run two shifts per day to cope with anticipated demand for VISI-SWITCH® LBSs when the devices enter full production in 2017.

Together, the relocation of R&D, test facilities and stores to the new building, and the freeing up of manufacturing space in the existing facility positions NOJA Power to cope with the organic growth the company expects—based on current and forecast orders—for its OSM series ACRs and VISI-SWITCH® LBS product families.

“NOJA Power has experienced notable growth over the last few years on the back of our reputation for delivering high-quality electrical switchgear and an ongoing program of R&D to continually enhance the capabilities and performance of our products,” says Neil O’Sullivan, NOJA Power’s Managing Director. “While we were able to cope with that expansion to date, anticipated future demand prompted the large investment in the new building, right next to our existing facility. Not only does this addition to the workspace allow for future increases in output, it has also enabled the company to enhance R&D and testing which can only result in even better products in the future.”

NOJA Power’s OSM series ACRs provide a comprehensive suite of automation features. The units perform voltage measurement on all bushings, current measurement on all phases, bidirectional protection and extensive power quality and data logging capability. The OSM series has been fully type-tested by independent laboratory KEMA in the Netherlands to ensure long life and reliability under the harshest environmental conditions. Since their introduction, the OSM series ACRs have been installed by utilities in over 84 countries around the world.

VISI-SWITCH® is a Load Break Switch (LBS) for three-phase electricity distribution grid feeder manual isolation. The load break switch overcomes the drawbacks of Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) dielectric switches by employing a solid dielectric and patented visible air gap. The unit also features a unique drive mechanism connecting the vacuum interrupters and isolators which guarantees a safe operational sequence.