Network news

Casino to Mallanganee upgrades

Customers in the Mallanganee area of the Kyogle Shire are experiencing better network reliability following the completion of a significant upgrade project in late 2022.

The project commenced in February 2019, with teams successfully completing the project despite a variety of challenges including the devasting fires that impacted Casino in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic, record-breaking floods in 2022 and ongoing La Nina weather events.

Over the project’s duration, crews from across the North Coast and further inland converged to support local teams undertake over 12,500 hours of work including:

• Replacement of 15kms of dual-circuit (33kv/11kv) powerlines
• Installation of additional network protection in areas most vulnerable to lightning strike
• Replacement of 66 timber power poles, with many relocated to support local landholders.

Customer impact was minimised throughout the project, with an average of 74 crew members working during each of the seven planned outages needed to undertake the work safely. We want to thank customers for their cooperation and support while the work was completed.

All-in effort takes care of maintenance

Over the past year, La Nina weather patterns across regional and rural NSW have reduced access to the network for our field teams to undertake routine maintenance, specifically in locations impacted by the Northern Rivers and inland NSW flood events.

In response, our operational leaders established coordinated maintenance campaigns, drawing together large teams to work intensively in specific areas – minimising customer impact with fewer planned outages and improving reliability for the areas of focus.

Some of the campaign work across our network has included:

• Cowra and Hilltops region, February 2023
  • 900 maintenance tasks completed over 10 consecutive days
  • 170 power pole and 208 crossarm replacements
  • 50 Essential Energy team members from across central NSW completed the work supported by specialised heavy and light fleet to ensure the work was completed safely and efficiently.

• Harden, Young, Boorowa, Jugiong and Grenfell, March 2023
  • 2,283 maintenance tasks completed over 10 consecutive days.
  • 352 power poles and 337 crossarm replacements.
  • More than 130 Essential Energy teams completed the work.

• Condobolin and Burcher, March 2023
  • 521 maintenance tasks completed over five consecutive days
  • 125 power poles, four transformers and 53 pole crossarms replaced.
  • More than 30 crew members completed the work, using specialist equipment to maximise efficiency
  • Five planned outages required, brought down from a possible 100 due to the staged planned approach

• Moree, March 2023
  • 837 maintenance tasks completed over seven consecutive days
  • 183 poles and 211 crossarms replaced
  • 35 crew members completed the work.