As extreme weather events and bushfires become more frequent across regional, rural and remote New South Wales, resilience is a critical consideration to meet the increasing demands on the electricity network. To maintain reliability and safety for customers, we are strengthening the network with infrastructure designed to perform in harsh conditions. A key part of this approach is the transition from traditional timber poles to composite poles, which offer superior durability, fire resistance and long-term value.
What are composite poles?
Composite poles are made from strong fibreglass strands set in a resin matrix and finished with a UV-protected coating. They’ve been developed in partnership with Australian manufacturers Wagners and Poletech, combining advanced materials and proven engineering to create poles that are durable, lightweight, and designed for harsh conditions.
Unlike timber poles, they don’t rot, attract termites, or need chemical treatments. Their lighter weight also makes them easier to transport and install, helping crews restore power faster after storms or emergencies.
Why composite poles?
Composite poles offer significant advantages over traditional timber, concrete, and steel poles. These benefits help improve network reliability, reduce maintenance costs, and support faster restoration after extreme weather events.
- Long service life - more than twice the lifespan of timber poles
- Lightweight - less than one-third the weight of timber or concrete, making transport and installation easier
- Resistant to damage - immune to rot, termites, corrosion, and fungal decay
- Fire resistant - self-extinguishing when heat is removed, reducing bushfire risk
- Electrically insulating - improving safety during faults and emergencies
- Efficient handling - easier for crews to manage in remote or hard-to-access areas
- Reusable - can often be redeployed, reducing waste
- Lowest lifecycle cost - Their durability and low maintenance deliver better long-term value
Composite poles also help address supply challenges by reducing reliance on hardwood timber, which is becoming harder to source. It’s a smarter choice that supports sustainability while building a stronger, more resilient network for the future.
Our move to composite poles builds on more than 18 years of proven performance with composite crossarms. There are now around 700,000 composite crossarms in service across the network, with no recorded failures to date.
Rolling out composite poles across the network
Across the network, as older timber poles reach their end of life, we’re progressively replacing them with composite poles. Customers will start seeing composite poles in more locations over time, not just in areas identified for resilience upgrades. It’s part of a long-term transition to infrastructure that lasts longer, requires less maintenance, and performs better in extreme conditions.
Bushfire resilience
Bushfires pose a serious risk to electricity infrastructure, with timber poles being highly vulnerable. Composite poles are fire resistant and self-extinguish when the heat source is removed, meaning they can survive most passing fires with little or no structural damage.
This was proven during the 2019–2020 bushfires, when 3,200 timber poles were destroyed across the Essential Energy network, and the cost to rebuild the network was over $70 Million. But composite poles exposed to those fires remained standing and structurally sound. Application of fireproof sleeves can provide further bushfire resistance when exposed to repeat fire events.
Resilience in action
Composite poles have proven their performance during bushfires, showing the value they bring to high-risk areas. Using detailed risk modelling, we’re prioritising locations most exposed to bushfire danger and replacing older timber poles in those locations with more resilient composite poles.
The proactive composite pole program, approved by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) will see 11,000 composite poles installed over five years on top of end-of-life timber pole replacements of approximately 9,000 poles per annum. This marks a major step toward building a network that can better withstand extreme weather conditions and keep communities connected.
Looking ahead
Composite poles are just one part of our broader resilience strategy, which includes undergrounding, microgrids, and Stand Alone Power Systems. Together, these initiatives help us deliver fewer outages, safer communities, and a network ready for the future.
