The surrounding metropolitan areas for Rivervale require reinforcement of the electricity network to allow for increased energy demand, resulting from population and development growth in the area. To ensure reliable service for the area, Western Power is upgrading the Rivervale electricity network as follows;
There are many interconnecting pieces of infrastructure that make up the Western Power electricity network - taking the power from generators, such as coal, gas or wind power stations, and delivering it through to your homes and businesses. Substations and their transformers are two of the most common pieces of infrastructure used within the Western Power network.
Electricity created by power generators is delivered to you via your local zone substation. A piece of equipment housed within the substation, called a transformer, then converts the electricity to a lower voltage, making it compatible for distribution into your local community and through to your homes and businesses.
A transformer can only convert a limited amount of electricity, therefore more transformers installed at your local community substation means greater network security and overall electricity capacity for your local area.
In today’s economy an average zone substation in a metro area might cost around ten to fifteen million dollars to build, not including the cost of the land and other ancillary works, and would house only one transformer. Additional transformers may cost in the region of two to three million dollars each and as you might imagine, they are very big which means that they can only be installed if there is enough physical space available within the substation site.
See also:
Western Power advises that these works will be contained within the Rivervale zone substation compound although minor traffic impediments may occur whereby trucks are facilitating construction equipment to the site.
The following table contains an overview of works, referencing work timelines and potential traffic implications.
| Works description | Works timeline | Local disruptions |
|---|---|---|
| Substation conversion | Complete | NA |
| Substation upgrade – 2nd new transformer | Complete | NA |
|
Substation upgrade – 3rd new transformer Civil construction |
Ongoing until late 2009 | Minor traffic impediments due to trucks on site |
|
Substation upgrade – 3rd new transformer Electical works |
Ongoing until late 2010 | Minor traffic disruptions due to equipment delivery |
For further information on the works outlined in this notice, please contact the Western Power Project Officer for these works, Ben Schneider, via the contact details below:
Page update on 22 September 2009
