DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
DEPLOYING SPS FOR WA’S CYCLONE SEROJA RECOVERY AND BEYOND
by Lauren DeLorenzo, Journalist, Energy Magazine
Image by Western Power
In April 2021, Tropical Cyclone Seroja ripped a 1,000km trail of damage through Western Australia, leaving tens of thousands of residents and businesses without power. In an effort to restore power reliability, Western Power has accelerated a program to install stand-alone power systems (SPS) in the region.
T
he storm ravaged the town of Kalbarri, with an estimated 70 per cent of structures suffering severe damage. With an affected area as large as Tasmania, residents went days sheltering by candlelight, purchasing their own generator fuel and traveling long distances for hot showers. Around 20 per cent of the region’s power network was damaged during the storm. In the immediate aftermath, 31,500 homes lost power in Kalbarri and neighbouring towns of Geraldton, Northampton, Dongara, Port Denison and Mullewa. One week later, 4,100 homes and businesses were still experiencing the outage, a result of over 4,000 power poles being down. Instead of replacing the 260km of overhead powerlines from scratch, Western
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Power, a Western Australian Governmentowned corporation, will install SPS units in an effort to improve power reliability in the region.
The case for SPS As self-sufficient electrical power systems which work independently from the grid, SPS units service a connection to a single structure, such as an agricultural farm, a household or a community building. Western Power SPS Program Manager, Margot Hammond, said, ”These units combine solar and battery energy technology, and sometimes a backup generator, and generate and store electricity that can power a wide range of applications. “The most common system being installed is between 15-20kWh per day, which would power a large working farm.”
Regional and remote areas which use long rural lines stand to benefit the most from SPS installation, as the units are self-sufficient. This makes them less vulnerable to extreme weather events such as cyclones or bushfires, as reliability issues are localised rather than reliant on a much larger network. Western Power began trialling SPS in 2016, and installed six units in regional WA. An additional 52 units were installed following their success, and were built in WA’s Great Southern and Mid West regions. The Wooroloo bushfire in February 2021 prompted two more units to be installed in the Perth Hills.
Resilience when it’s needed most Tropical Cyclone Seroja made landfall in April 2021, shortly before the planned rollout of SPS units in the region. Ms www.energymagazine.com.au
