Extreme heat and severe weather are not confined to the summer months, so Western Power has been working year-round to ensure its network is prepared for the impact these conditions can have on electricity supply.
Every year Western Power undertakes a $1 billion comprehensive package of maintenance programs and bushfire mitigation works to prepare the network for extreme weather events.
Prolonged high temperatures, summer storms and bushfires can have a significant impact on the network, which is why the utility delivers key upgrades and mitigation works to increase network resilience.
These works include comprehensive maintenance of poles and wires, as well as bushfire mitigation programs such as network inspections and timely condition remediation, adjustments to switching patterns to manage demand, and vegetation management near powerlines.
Western Power said that reliability continues to be a key focus for the business, especially considering the complex and increasing challenges of climate change impacts and extreme weather events.
Western Power Executive Manager Asset Management, Gair Landsborough, said that demand on the network during summer is continually increasing.
“Over the last two summers we’ve experienced the top ten highest demand days in the history of the network,” he said.
“While 100 per cent reliability can never be guaranteed, we do everything we can to maintain reliability of 99.92 per cent even with the increasing demand.
“We know outages over summer can be inconvenient and uncomfortable, and our targeted year-round works programs are aimed at minimising the chance of outages occurring. We work to ensure we have additional resources where required and mobile specialist staff along with emergency response generators where possible.”
The utility is constantly enhancing its capacity to respond to emergency events, adopting a cloud-based emergency management solution that brings it in line with Department of Fire and Emergency Services and Western Australia Police, increasing inter-agency cooperation with organisations like the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, and working closely with the Bureau of Meteorology to obtain detailed weather briefings to prepare for unique extreme weather conditions that impact the network.
“To address impacts of extreme weather events, we’ve increased our emphasis on disaster preparedness, customer communications and network maintenance, innovation and investment, including integrating new technologies to improve network reliability and resilience, and ongoing bushfire management,” Mr Landsborough said.
“This includes targeted investment in programs such as undergrounding of the overhead network and proactive asset inspections and network enhancement.”
