Down for the count: eight separate transmission tower failure incidents in less than five years
A map of where the eight separate transmission tower incidents have occurred over the past five years.
transmission damaged
Analysis of the recent destructive supercell storm in Broken Hill
Anthony Cornelius of WeatherWatch shares insights and graphical displays that demonstrate the extent of the supercell storm that toppled seven transmission towers in Broken Hill last week.
Update from the NSW government (on Sat 19th Oct 2024), on power supply restoration in in western NSW
Via an update on LinkedIn from NSW Energy Minister, we’ve become aware of this update on the NSW Government website ‘Update on NSW Government response to power outage in Far West NSW’.
ElectraNet provide update that 29 transmission structures went down in SA, during last night’s weather event
ElectraNet are reporting that at least twenty-three transmission towers and six 132kV stobie poles fell down or were damaged during last night's wild weather.
Olympic Dam now offline, as SA demand was already forecasted to go negative this weekend
Several media outlets are reporting that Olympic Dam in South Australia has lost power, which may cause headaches for system operators with demand in South Australia forecast to go negative this weekend.
How severe thunderstorms impact energy infrastructure
Ashleigh Madden of WeatherZone explores how thunderstorms damage transmission and whether a trend of these related weather events exists.
We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out
Reflecting on the transmission tower failures in Victoria in February, a group of researchers from the University of Melbourne have put together this summary of what the long-term wind data is showing, and what...
Summer reflections
Guest author, Carl Daley from EnergyByte, provides this summary of summer 2024 - covering price volatility, consolidation of the twin peaks dynamic, and BESS performance.
Convective downdrafts and high-voltage transmission lines
In light of another transmission tower collapse caused by convective wind gusts, we've invited wind loading expert Dr John Holmes to explain this phenomena.
Another tower collapse poses more questions about transmission
The sixth transmission tower failure within the NEM in almost four years, has prompted further questions about the physical network and its resilience to severe convective winds.
Towers down near Geelong on 13th February 2024
A photo of downed transmission towers near Geelong, reported in ABC News' blog, was observed on 13 February 2024.
How common are islandings and transmission tower failures in the NEM?
In light of recent events, Dan Lee does some digging to find historical incidences of islandings and transmission tower failures.
Palmerston to Waddamana lines returned to service on December 2, 2022
A successful return to service for the Waddamana to Palmerston 220 kV lines following damage sustained during landslides on 14 October 2022.
A quick (interim) review of the ~7 days living on the SA island + some broader questions to explore later
Yesterday's note from ElectraNet prompted this initial summary of some of what we've seen happen with the SA islanding event over the last 12 days.
SA islanding ends, on Saturday evening 19th November 2022
On Saturday evening 19th November 2022 the Heywood interconnector returned to service following temporary repairs to the tower damaged on Saturday 12th November.
A quick review of the sequence of events in SA immediately around the islanding on Saturday 12th November 2022
Fifth article for Monday 14th November 2022 ... taking a quick initial look at the sequence of events immediately around the islanding in South Australia on Saturday 12th November 2022.
ElectraNet update at midday on Sunday 13th November 2022
Electranet have posted a short update in the middle of the day, Sunday 13th November 2022.
ElectraNet tweets about tower damage near Tailem Bend (out for a week)
Second article in a growing series about the islanding of South Australia from Saturday 12th November 2022.