Operational Reporting - Essential Energy

BEST NETWORK MANAGER
Country Energy operates Australia’s
largest electricity network, which spans 95 per cent
of New South Wales.
We manage around 200,000 kilometres of powerlines –
which, laid end to end, could wrap around the earth five
times – and maintain 1.4 million power poles across urban,
coastal, mountain, tableland and outback environments.
Since 2001, we’ve invested around $1,500 million in
maintaining and enhancing our network.
Year in review
This year, Country Energy delivered its greatest ever
capital program, investing more than $404.5 million in
networks and infrastructure and more than $226 million
in maintenance and operational works to maintain and
enhance our network, and deliver essential services across
regional New South Wales.
We focused on delivering increased power supply reliability
and security to meet demands for greater capacity, and
we’ve undertaken significant new infrastructure projects
in every region across the state.
The success of our substantial maintenance and operational
works program – including asset inspections, installation
of protection equipment, fauna protection, preventative
maintenance and vegetation management, aided by a mild
storm season – can be seen in our best reliability result
on record.
Finding better ways of using our existing
network assets
While electricity consumption has steadily increased over
several decades, we’ve seen much stronger growth in peak
demand in recent years. This is being partially driven by the
increased use of domestic air conditioners which is driving up
consumption during the summer months.
Growth in energy demand and the associated need to
maintain and expand our existing network means that
Country Energy is continually seeking ways of managing
power network capacity and considering alternatives
to expanding the network. For example, for substantial
projects costing more than $10 million, we carry out public
consultation to seek out alternatives to network expansion.
We’re also researching non-network solutions to reinforce
power supply in geographically remote areas.
In the past, our traditional approach has been to replace
and upgrade the capacity of many kilometres of powerlines
to improve power quality. This year, we’ve been researching
systems that store energy during times when consumption
is low and release it when consumption is high. Potentially,
energy from these storage systems could be supplemented
with renewable sources of energy – for example, from
customers who generate excess capacity through solar
panels – making these combined solutions both economic
and less carbon-intensive.
Customer connections,
infrastructure upgrades
and planned and unplanned
supply interruptions are all
in a day’s work for Network
Operator Doug Giddins.
Performance highlights
“Every day is different,” says Doug as he checks vital
information on the banks of screens at the Port Macquarie
Network Operations Centre.
Result 225 minutes
Asset management plan Target Adherence Result Implemented
– significant achievements reflected by SAIDI
“It can get pretty hectic in here, particularly during the
summer storm season, but we’ve got a great team who are
18 Finding better ways dedicated to looking after supply to our customers.”
Finding better ways 19
Home