After consecutive nights of extreme winds that destroyed parts of the NEM’s transmission network, a few of us in the office are pondering about how many spare temporary transmission towers are currently available across Australia.
The ‘stockpile’ will need replenishing, having taken some hits in the last eight months. These events include the following:
- Six transmission pylons collapsed near Anakie, VIC in February due to severe convective winds. Repair works to install new permanent towers started in August, but are not due to be completed until December.
- Seven transmission pylons collapsed south of Broken Hill in the early hours of Thursday this week. Transgrid have stated that they plan to restore the line within two weeks.
- We’re now aware that transmission was damaged in South Australia’s Far North last night – but we are waiting for further details on the extent of the damage.
Roughly two decades ago, the six transmission companies for each state (QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, TAS and WA) bought a reserve of temporary transmission towers and strategically stored them around the country. During the system black event in SA in 2016, around twenty towers collapsed due to strong winds – as a result, Powerlink (QLD) and Western Power (WA) delivered their stock of temporary towers to ElectraNet (SA).
With the current destructive storm system heading east, coupled with the fact that we are heading into storm/cyclone season – we wonder if any readers have any insights as to how many of these temporary towers there are lying around Australia currently? and what the lead times are on new orders? particularly given that Hurricane Helene and Milton has recently damaged large parts of the HVAC network in the US.
Left, the temporary transmission structures that were erected near Anakie, VIC after severe winds struck in February.
Source: Linton Corbet
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