CONDITION MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE
PREPARING ASSETS FOR WHATEVER
THE SUMMER BRINGS
Victorian electricity distributor United Energy (UE) worked right through Melbourne’s COVID restrictions in 2020 to keep electricity supplies safe and reliable for its customers, but it was also preparing for summer, which usually sees more extreme conditions impact the network and put a strain on power systems.
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he distributor rolled out a $185 million program of works to ensure the network was better prepared for this summer than ever before to support its customers, which are in Melbourne’s eastern and south eastern suburbs, as well as on the Mornington Peninsula. United Energy General Manager, Electricity Networks, Mark Clarke, said heatwaves, high winds and wet weather could all cause power outages over summer, noting several storm events over the last few months of 2020. “Our crews worked year-round to make sure our network is reliable, but we recommend everyone has a plan to have the power they need over summer,” Mr Clarke said. United Energy and its resource partners undertook more than one million work-hours to ensure all network inspection, maintenance and testing was complete ahead of the annual bushfire season. The highlights of this work include upgrading 47 local substations, (including eight in hazardous bushfire risk areas), installing 2.9kms of covered conductor to insulate powerlines – with another 2.2km to be constructed over coming months – and 91 network spreaders to prevent clashing. Three Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) devices were also installed to act as a network safety switch to reduce
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March 2021 // Issue 18
the risk of fires starting from electrical assets in high bushfire risk areas. These devices are active in Dromana, Frankston South and Mornington, and protect 680km of powerlines servicing 63,500 customers. The annual, extensive vegetation inspection and cutting program also completed 100 per cent of inspections in high risk areas, with vegetation cut back from tens of thousands of powerline spans. Mr Clarke said the extensive efforts created greater capacity to deal with peak summer demand, while keeping the network safe and reliable. “What we’ve also seen is that while customers were working or studying from home, they have become more conscious about their reliance on electricity,” he said. “Our customers use more power in summer than any other season, so we recommend they know what they need to do if the power goes out for any reason.”
COVERED CONDUCTOR One of the key upgrades United Energy made this summer was a $1.7 million roll out of new technology on the Mornington Peninsula to reduce the risk of fires and outages.
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