AUSNET has finally responded to enquiries relating to the shire’s almost 24-hour outage in December.
On Monday, December 16, residents in parts of Broadford and Kilmore East lost power just before 7pm, as temperatures reached a searing 38 degrees.
Though power was restored to the majority of locals by 11am the following morning, residents in parts of Kilmore East had to wait until 1.30pm, while those in Broadford had to wait until the evening to be reconnected after experiencing a second outage at 11.30am.
While AusNet had previously informed the Review that the outages were due to Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters (REFCLs), which must be activated on Total Fire Ban days to prevent energy flow to powerlines if vegetation contact is detected, they did not initially respond to enquiries as to why it took inspectors almost 12 hours to patrol the lines, nor state why the technology had not been improved to quickly locate and identify the trigger of the REFCLs.
However, a follow-up was successful in garnering a response, with AusNet’s spokesperson highlighting the importance of workers’ safety when restoring power.
“Our priority is to restore power as quickly and safely as possible,” they said.
“In this instance, the patrols started at 7.36pm.
“Six hundred and 22 customers had their power restored by 8pm, with 122 restored by 1am. Patrols were then put on hold for safety reasons, with a helicopter patrol and additional field crews arranged for first light.”
The spokesperson also delivered positive news for the latter enquiry, stating that a trial had proved successful in easing delays in restoring power when REFCLs were activated.
Currently, when REFCLs are triggered, the entire feeder line is disconnected from power, rather than just a single line or a few sections.
Before electricity can be restored, the lines must be physically patrolled to locate, identify—and if required—clear the cause of the fault, which is often a time-consuming process.
“We are currently trialling new switching gear on lines which have been historically challenging, to help narrow down the location of faults on a REFCL feeder,” AusNet’s spokesperson said.
“For example, on the Euroa line, which is 1200km long, we have installed smart reclosers, which assist in identifying the fault location.
“On other REFCL feeders, the existing smart reclosers are being trialled with new settings to enhance the fault targeting and fault location.”
The spokesperson also informed the Review that Broadford’s second outage, which occurred 30 minutes after power was restored, was the result of ‘an unrelated issue with substation equipment.’
