As we start to enjoy slightly warmer weather, spare a thought for all those wintering over at Scott Base – average temperature minus 30^°C, or minus 35^°C if you take wind chill into account – that's on a good day with only 5 knots of wind.

Hedley Berge, project electrician of Antarctica New Zealand, has been at Scott Base since October 2008. After reading about AS/NZS 3000:2007 Amendment 1 in the last issue of Touchstone, he wanted a PDF of the amendment and had problems downloading it, so he asked for our help, which we were happy to provide.

It occurred to us that doing electrical work outside in winter conditions is challenging enough at the best of times – doing this type of work in sub-zero temperatures in an Antarctic winter is definitely something else again. So, we asked Hedley to tell us about the work they've been doing at the base.

Hedley, along with Lead Electrician/Project Coordinator Paul Olsen from Phased Electrical Solutions in Christchurch, Doug Bell of Antarctica New Zealand (and from Dunedin), and Lyal Cross the Scott Base electrician, have been involved in a major electrical upgrade of the Scott Base energy centre. They have installed a fire resistant ring main system with tap-off boxes and sectionaliser switches, and new main switchboards have been installed into the two powerhouses. They have also installed a new motor control centre into each powerhouse for the mechanical services and support equipment.

This work has been commissioned to modernise and upgrade the Scott Base electrical infrastructure to enable best use of the power that will soon be supplied from the Meridian Energy wind farm – planned for completion this coming summer.

An electrical inspector from Kaitaia, Hedley began his trip working on the wind farm project's ground works and installing the HV cables and fibre-optic cables. Paul and Doug arrived at Scott Base in February this year to work with him on the energy centre upgrade. This is Doug's third and Hedley's second winter at Scott Base – both have served as the base electrician on their previous trips.

Most of the electrical work has been inside where the temperature is maintained at 18^°C.

They have had a few outside jobs and of course for those, they wear appropriate clothing and plan the task so that they are outside for the shortest time possible.

'Small screws are the hardest things to work with wearing insulated gloves and of course anything metal will stick to your skin, especially below minus 20^°C-ish,' says Hedley. 'We have most of our equipment stored in containers outside so we have to plan ahead to allow time for rolls of cable to thaw before using them so that the insulation is not damaged. Also, we can't leave anything outside on the ground as there is a high chance that it will be buried in snow.'

Hedley, Paul, and Doug head back to New Zealand in October for a well-earned and (hopefully) warmish, sunny spring.