A mystery

My story starts in April 2010, when I paid a visit to Ardeer to photograph the procession of passing trains bound for Ballarat, and found a row of brand new power poles awaiting the installation of overhead cables.

I visited again in March 2011, and the poles were still in the same unfinished state.

And again in September 2011.

At the time I didn’t think too much about the power lines, but on closer inspection they were nowhere to be seen! So where did they go?

The backstory

As Melbourne’s west has expanded, so has the load placed on the electrical network that serves it – with Keilor Terminal Station bearing the brunt of demand.

So the Australian Energy Market Operator made the decision that a new 220kV / 66kV terminal station should be built to share the load, located beside the existing high voltage power lines at Deer Park.

As well as a new 66kV / 22kV zone substation to supply the growing suburbs and industry of Truganina.

And a web of new 66kV high voltage power lines to tie together the new and existing zone substations.

Local communities caught unaware

However for the residents of Ridgeway Parade in Sunshine West, the appearance of 66 kV power lines along their street in June 2010 caught them by surprise – leading to work being suspended.

Power struggle in Sunshine and Ardeer on lines
Brimbank Leader
1 June 2010
Andre Awadalla

Sunshine West and Ardeer residents have vowed to fight a move to install new overhead power lines in their area.

And while electricity supplier Powercor says it has temporarily suspended work on the project to listen to community concerns, it maintains the project will go ahead.

Sunshine West resident Larissa Stewart said about 70 residents concerned about the overhead power lines gathered at Ridgeway Parade Kindergarten last week.

“People are very angry that this has proceeded without consultation,” Ms Stewart said. She said residents in and around Ridgeway Pde were worried about the health effects of electromagnetic radiation, the visual impact of the powerlines and property values if the power lines were not placed underground.

“It’s going to devalue the properties in the area, absolutely,” Ms Stewart said.

Derrimut state Greens candidate and former councillor Geraldine Brooks said an unanimous resolution was passed at last week’s meeting that the community wanted the lines placed underground.

Ms Brooks said Powercor had failed to consult with residents and that some of the power poles were only 10m from houses and 8.5m from the railway line, raising safety concerns.

Powercor spokesman Damien Batey said it was “regrettable” that Powercor had not consulted with residents before work began.

He said that was an “oversight”, rather than a deliberate attempt to withhold information.

Mr Batey said work had been suspended “while we work through community concerns”.

But he said that while placing the power lines underground had been considered, it would be “incredibly cost prohibitive”.

Mr Batey also said that a report Powercor had commissioned from an independent consultant showed that there was “a very, very low risk of any health concerns” as a result of the power lines and that any electromagnetic radiation would be “well below” levels of acceptable exposure.

The project will supply power to growing industrial areas in the west and supplement residential power.

With the Brimbank City Council becoming involved in the fight

Powerlines raise ruckus
The Advocate
26 July 26, 2010
Ruza Zivkusic

As Sunshine West and Ardeer residents step up their fight against the installation of new overhead powerlines in the area, an electricity supplier is planning a beautification program to replace trees it removed.

Brimbank Council is negotiating with Powercor to pay $40,000 for street tree planting. The company had removed three trees on Ridgeway Parade because of the risk of them growing into the overhead lines.

Powercor spokesman Damien Batey said the company would present its plans to residents shortly.

Ardeer resident Larissa Stewart yesterday met with concerned neighbours to form an action group to oppose the overhead lines.

Work has been stopped since last month while Powercor conducts consultation. Residents fear electro-magnetic frequency emissions from the lines will result in increased health risks.

Ms Stewart claimed residents’ calls and emails to Powercor were going unanswered. “A lot of us have made multiple attempts to make phone calls but haven’t had any response.

“Powercor has only distributed letters to our residents about their intentions in English, but 90 per cent are from non-English-speaking backgrounds and most are Vietnamese.”

Installation of the lines by Powercor will supply power to Paramount Industrial Park and nearby residential areas. The council last week adopted a report to continue advocating on behalf of the community affected by the proposal, requesting that Powercor minimise the impact of the powerlines on streetscape character through tree planting and alternative route alignments.

But Ms Stewart repeated calls for the lines to be placed underground.

“They wouldn’t have the lines through the eastern suburbs 13 kilometres from the CBD,” Ms Stewart said. “They have put powerlines in an open space area where we used to walk the dogs and the kids and have a little bit of open space.

“We thought we’d buy something we knew. We knew where the railway line was, where the schools and the facilities are and all of a sudden, nine years down the track, our happy little community has an upheaval because of a big organisation.”

Mr Batey said the lines had been designed to ensure an “extremely low” level of EMF emission, representing less than 0.7per cent of the prescribed maximum levels of exposure from the relevant authorities.

“This has been determined through scientifically proven research and validated by independent experts,” he said.

Residents sharing worries about reduced property values and health concerns in a letter to the editor.

Residents call for powerline action
Sunshine Star Weekly
24 August 2010

As concerned residents, we are protesting Powercor’s proposed High Voltage overhead powerline through the suburbs of West Sunshine and Ardeer. To this effect, we would appreciate your support in once again highlighting this urgent matter.

The 66kV powerline, proposed to facilitate the new industrial estate west of the Ring Rd in Ardeer, will both endanger the health of the community and its children and slide the area into an urban wasteland of unsightly powerlines and falling real-estate values, effectively condemning that part of Sunshine and Ardeer into an almost third world environment for years to come.

Powercor’s refusal to recognise the potential dangers of overhead High Voltage power and its refusal to “underground” the line is alarming.

While Powercor supports its intended action by claiming to be guided by World Health recommendations and Australian standards, it refuses to recognise these guidelines as being outdated (1998) and in need of urgent revision.

Recent epidemiological research, including WHO findings, has confirmed an undeniable association between electro-magnetic exposure and childhood leukaemia and many world authorities have both expressed concerns about the current inadequate limits of allowable EMF emissions and called for precautionary measures in the installation of High Voltage power.

Furthermore, while Powercor claims that “undergrounding” is too expensive and that regulations require it to pursue “the lowest cost options”, it turns a blind eye to the costs imposed on the community through devaluation of homes and environment and potential medical costs in treating EMF induced leukaemia, not to mention the emotional cost of suffering, sickness and loss of loved ones to cancer.

One can only ask the question: what price do we place on human life? For a multi-national company with huge yearly profits, it seems that safeguarding the health of our children and environment is far less important than protecting profits.

As a major utility and licence holder, Powercor owes the community a duty of care. We plead that Powercor reconsiders its options and exercises a more precautionary attitude by “undergrounding” the line.

Elizabeth and Micheal Kononada,
West Sunshine.

And unhappy with the alternative options presented by Powercor.

Powercor’s options fail to allay fears
The Advocate
27 September 2010
Monique Ebrington

Brimbank residents marched to Parliament House last week to protest against alternatives offered by electricity distributor Powercor.

More than 25 Ardeer and Sunshine West residents took part in the protest, which followed a community meeting of residents, councillors, local MPs and Powercor representatives on September 14. The meeting came after lengthy consultations with residents concerned about the potential impacts of new above-ground powerlines on their health and on house prices.

Rather than the initial plan to run above-ground powerlines along Ridgeway Parade in Ardeer, Powercor put forward three alternative options to residents.

Powercor spokesman Hugo Armstrong said the alternative choices were “the only realistic options to solve the issue”.

The options are a change to the route of the overhead powerlines, an increase to the height of the structures, or for the lines to be placed underground. Ardeer resident Larissa Stewart said residents were “unhappy” at the options presented to them.

“Absolutely none of the alternatives have Powercor fully funding the project,” Ms Stewart claimed. “Powercor is a privately owned company that reports to shareholders. They are asking the council to fund infrastructure that’s going to return funds to private shareholders.”

She said Brimbank was a community that desperately needed funding for other services.

“I think one of the reasons the community is so passionately against it is because it takes money away from a community that doesn’t have a lot.”

A Powercor spokesman said that due to regulations, Powercor could fund $2 million towards the underground option and Brimbank Council or residents would have to fund the remaining $900,000. He said the other options did not require co-contribution. “We simply cannot underground every powerline in the state and expect our customers to absorb those costs.”

The existing powerlines servicing Ardeer and Sunshine West are operating at 30 per cent above the optimal load.

Powercor said residents could expect power outages over summer if a new high-voltage circuit was not provided to the region.

But somewhat surprisingly, a year later residents got the underground power lines they wanted, thanks to extra funding from the state government.

It’s power to the people
Brimbank Weekly
22 November 2011
Benjamin Millar

Ardeer and Sunshine West residents have successfully campaigned for high-voltage powerlines to be placed underground, proving people power can prevail over corporate giants.

Families gathered at Ardeer Community Park on Saturday to celebrate their win following the completion of recent major works in the area.

Geraldine Brooks, of the Ardeer and Sunshine West Powerlines Action Group, said the controversial 66,000-volt powerline proposal was sprung on the community by electricity distributor Powercor without concern for residents’ health and visual amenity.

“Sixty-six thousand-volt powerlines through our community would have exposed families to high electromagnetic field levels,” she said.

Residents learned of the lines only when Powercor began erecting poles on Ridgeway Parade early last year.

“We found that completely unacceptable and made sure the proponent, Powercor, got this message loud and clear throughout a year of community meetings, protests, letter-writing, petitions and publicity,” Ms Brooks said.

Following pressure from residents and Brimbank Council, the State Government’s Powerline Relocation Committee agreed in June to help Powercor fund the $2.8million project.

The underground lines will supply power to Paramount Industrial Park in Deer Park and nearby residential areas.

Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said the campaign was a great example of people power. “This community forced a multinational company to back down – it just goes to show what can be achieved when the local community works together.”

Footnote – another struggle

Hot on the heels of the fight against high voltage power lines, in 2013 the residents of Ridgeway Parade had a new project on their doorstop – Regional Rail Link.

They were worried about the increased number of trains using the existing railway.

Rail noise.

Tall noise walls along the rail corridor.

And delays to road traffic at the Fitzgerald Road level crossing.

And so formed the “Fix the Links Residents Rail Action Group” to campaign for their interests.

Group for rail link but want proper planning
Sunshine Star Weekly
30 October 2012
Vanessa Valenzuela

More than 100 angry Brimbank residents rallied at Ardeer Station last weekend, calling on the Regional Rail Link Authority to postpone construction work on the multi-billion dollar project.
The ‘Fix the Links’ Residents Rail Action Group voiced their concerns about an increase in noise, pollution and traffic congestion in the area as a result of the Regional Rail Link.

Brimbank resident Maurice Sibelle said the group wanted the rail link to go ahead, but were asking the authority to address their concerns before commencing construction work.

“There are some misconceptions in the community that we are opposed to the Regional Rail Link but we are not,” Mr Sibelle said.

“We want to present to the community and all interested parties that there is an intelligent response to what the government is doing and they are rushing ahead with this project.”

“Our fear is that it will take so long to adopt the policy that the RRL will be finished and the money will be spent, and we will be left with is the problem that is still there, and there is no plan to fix it,” he said.

Greens MP Colleen Hartland said there are a number of serious and significant community concerns regarding the Regional Rail Link that need to be addressed.

“I share the key concerns of the community and the Fix the Links residents group – noise, diesel pollution and access issues at rail crossings,” Ms Hartland said.

“Noise and diesel pollution concerns have been raised by communities all along the rail corridor from West Melbourne all the way to Deer Park, and these concerns are justified.

“Electrifying the line and running modern electric trains would resolve both of these issues to a large extent.”

Brimbank Council’s General Manager of Infrastructure and Environment Paul Younis said council would seek to facilitate consultation between the Regional Rail Link Authority, ‘Fix the Links’ and other residents relating to concerns about the railway corridor between Sunshine and Deer Park.

“Council continues to play a strong advocacy role on behalf of the community in order to realise optimal community outcomes from the Regional Rail Link project,” Ms Younis said.

“Further consultation is planned once the Department of Transport’s Draft Passenger Rail Infrastructure Noise Policy is finalised at the end of the year.”

A spokesperson for the RRL said the project will continue to comply with all relevant environmental legislation, standards and guidelines, including those on noise and air quality.

For more information about the ‘Fix the Links’ action group visit fixregionallraillink.blogspot.com.au

But this time around, the state government was not on their side – they built the massive steel noise walls along the rail corridor anyway.

And the level crossing at Fitzgerald Road was left untouched, despite the massive delays to road traffic caused by the extra trains now passing through it.

A situation not addressed until 2020, when the Fitzgerald Road level crossing removal project was given the go ahead.

Footnote: a few more gory details

The two underground feeders are ‘SU024’ and ‘SU032’ – running 2.861 kilometres and 3.319 kilometres respectively.

In 2015 the Sunshine zone substation served by the underground power lines was itself upgraded.

Sunshine zone substation refurbishment

Sunshine Zone Substation (SU) supplies electricity to over 25,000 customers including domestic, commercial and industrial in the Sunshine, Ardeer, Deer Park, Laverton North, St Albans, Caroline Springs and Derrimut areas.

In response to the existing SU transformers nearing end of life and additional load requirements brought on by new data centres in the area, Powercor commenced a program to refurbish and redevelop the zone substation over the 2012 to 2017 period.

The SU zone substation comprised four transformers and outdoor discrete HV switchgear. Two transformers are in service and a group of two smaller transformers are available for contingency operation. The transformers have no voltage regulation and are of limited use. All transformers at the station are aged and in poor condition.

The HV switchgear (outdoor circuit breakers) are aged and also in poor condition. The HV bus structure is currently supported as a long term temporary measure with scaffolding. Other station components including the capacitor banks, buildings and fences are in poor condition.

To finalise the redevelopment of the SU zone substation, Powercor needs to decommission and remove two of the old transformers and associated equipment. This is contingent upon the establishment of Deer Park Terminal Station (DPTS) to enable load transfers.

As part of the works for the new Deer Park Terminal Station.

Powercor undertook a joint Regulatory Test with Jemena Electricity Networks and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to address a system limitation at the Keilor Terminal Station (KTS), and on the sub-transmission lines from KTS that serves the Melton (MTN), Sunbury (SBY) and Sydenham (SHM) zone substations. SBY and SHM are zone substations for Jemena.

The final report was published on 1 May 2012 which recommended the construction of a new terminal station at Deer Park (DPTS). The regulatory test demonstrates that the works are prudent and efficient and that the option selected maximises the net economic benefit to consumers. Other key elements of the report include:

• construction of 66kV sub-transmission lines from DPTS to a new zone substation at Truganina (TNA);
• construction of 66kV sub-transmission lines to transfer the existing MLN zone substation to DPTS, relieving constraints at KTS. As part of this work, the existing KTS to MLN and MLN to SBY
66kV sub-transmission lines will be reconfigured to bypass MLN and establish a KTS to SBY2 line. This maintains the required third supply to the SHM and SBY 66kV loop exiting KTS, which also
supplies Gisborne (GSB) and Woodend (WND) zone substations; and
• construction of 66kV sub-transmission lines to transfer existing Sunshine zone substation (SU) to DPTS, relieving constraints at KTS. As part of this work, the existing KTS to SU2 and SU to
Sunshine East (SSE) 66kV sub-transmission lines will be re-configured to supply SSE via its own loop from KTS.

With the upgraded distribution network commissioned in 2017.

Powercor diagram

Further reading

• Ardeer – West Sunshine Powerlines Action Group
• Fix Regional Rail Link residents group

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Nicole Cleary photo via The Age

On the trail

The massive pylons and quad bundle conductors look just like those on the 500 kV twin circuit Moorabool-Portland transmission line I wrote about the other month.

I’ve been a fan of this transmission line for years.

The lush green grass suggested dairy country around Mortlake, not the wheat fields of the Pleurisy Plains.

But there was one big clue – the pair of transposition towers in the background.

A transposition tower is a transmission tower that changes the relative physical positions of the conductors of a transmission line in a polyphase system. A transposition tower allows these sections to be connected together, while maintaining adequate clearance for the conductors. This is important since it distributes electrical impedances between phases of a circuit over time, reducing the problem of one conductor carrying more current than others.

Double-circuit lines are usually set up with conductors of the same phase placed opposite each other. This reduces the reactance due to mutual inductance; the reactance of both circuits together is less than half that of one circuit. For example, a section of a line may be (top-to-bottom) phases A-B-C on the left, also phases C’-B’-A’ on the right. The next section may be B-C-A on the left, also A’-C’-B’ on the right. Therefore, the rotation on each side of the tower will be opposite.

But would a set of transposition towers be big enough to spot on Google Maps?

And away I go

My initial theory was that the photo couldn’t be taken *that* far from Melbourne or off a main road – normal people don’t go driving for hours down bush tracks just to photograph power lines – so I made a virtual visit to the Moorabool Terminal Station outside Geelong.

Google Maps

My first location of note on Google Maps – a hub of activity outside Cressy, where the transmission lines were being repaired.

Google Maps

Six pylons came tumbling down to earth in January 2020 following extreme winds.

ABC News photo

The outage shut down the Portland aluminium smelter, until temporary repairs were completed to allow power to be restored.

The Standard photo

Then off across empty plains until Lismore – where I found two parallel single circuit pylons.

Google Maps

But this wasn’t the transposition towers I was looking for, but somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit in person – the spot where the 500 kV line crosses over the single circuit Ballarat to Terang 220 kV line.

Google Street View

As I continued west, the paddocks started to turn green, and I found another place I’m yet to visit – Mortlake Terminal Station.

Google Maps

And the fossil gas fired Mortlake Power Station that relies on it.

Origin Energy photo

And finally something that matched what I was looking for – a pair of single circuit transposition towers in the middle of a twin circuit transmission line, outside the locality of Willatook.

Google Maps

Following Google Street View along Malseeds Road found the transposition towers.

Google Street View

But given the transmission line turns to the right before reaching the transposition towers, I needed to head west – Willatook-Warrong Road was the next road to take.

Google Street View

Now to see if it was the same set of pylons.

Nicole Cleary photo via The Age

And boom .

Google Street View

A match!

And one last detail

The little sign in the background of the original photo looked like a ‘Danger: Gas Pipeline’ sign, but the only gas network diagrams I could find lacked sufficient detail to confirm.

AEMO gas pipeline network map

And over at Open Infrastructure Map the only feature at the location was the 500 kV transmission line I’d been following since Moorabool.

Open Infrastructure Map

So an adventure for another day.

Further reading

Some more detail on the 2020 transmission line pylon collapse at Cressy.

• AEMO Preliminary Report – Victoria and South Australia Separation Event – April 2020
• AusNet Services cost pass through application – July 2020
• Energy Safe Victoria incident report – November 2020

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Trains

It isn’t a road trip if I wasn’t trying to photograph trains!

We’d been driving for a few hours before we passed out first one – a loaded grain train bound for Geelong.

A few hours later we found an empty grain train headed back west for another load.

Shortly followed by a load of containers headed the other way for Melbourne.

And then on our way home, a load of steel beams and plate.

Abandoned stations

The only passenger service along the line is twice weekly The Overland, which runs through without stopping.

Inverleigh is just a timber shed.

As is Pura Pura.

At least Westmere still has grain silos.

And Maroona has a disused platform.

And abandoned towns

The Pleurisy Plains are grain and grazing country, and the townships that did exist have been emptying out.

There was nothing much to see at Nerrin Nerrin.

Mininera Primary School is long gone.

Westmere once had a general store, but it’s for sale.

And Streatham – it’s still got an Infant Welfare Centre, but only open two mornings each month.

Wind farms

Windy plains are good for one thing – wind farms.

80 turbines at the Dundonnell Wind Farm north of Mortlake.

75 turbines at the Ararat Wind Farm.

Just two at the Maroona Wind Farm.

And 43 turbines at the Berrybank Wind Farm, with another 26 being added.

Power lines

The power generated by wind farms has to go somewhere, so high voltage transmission lines cross the otherwise empty plains.

The big one is the 500 kV twin circuit Moorabool – Portland line, constructed in the 1980s to transmit electricity generated from burning brown coal to Alcoa’s aluminium smelter at Portland.

The oldest is the single circuit Ballarat to Terang 220 kV line.

But they’ve recently been joined by the 132 kV line that links the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm to the Haunted Gully Terminal Station.

Which passes beneath the older 220 kV line via a tangle of pylons outside Lismore.

Telephone exchanges

In the days before mobile phones, copper wires were the only communication link to the outside world.

Maroona has a telephone exchange not much larger than the outdoor dunny beside it.

As does Nerrin Nerrin.

Berrybank has a shed a little larger.

Streatham’s exchange is bigger again, but it serves an actual town.

But Pura Pura – there is nothing around for miles!

CFA stations

Even with the population leaving the plains, the risk of bushfire is still there.

The CFA station at Nerrin Nerrin is just a little tin shed.

The station at Mininera is far more modern.

As is the one at Langi Logan.

Which replaced the tin shed around the corner.

And finally – Mount Elephant

Every time I’ve gone for a trip on The Overland I’ve pointed out Mount Elephant – a 380-metre-high conical breached scoria cone formed by a dormant volcano, located 1 km from the town of Derrinallum. So since I was in the area, I paid a visit.

Turns out it’s only open for a few hours each Sunday, but I was lucky – they were just about to open!

The visitors centre is located at the base of the mountain.

The access track follows the alignment of a dismantled railway siding.

Which served a ballast quarry, now used as a car park.

The walk to the edge of the crater takes 30 minutes, with the walk around the edge adding an extra hour.

But since it was a stinking hot day, we only made it halfway up.

So we’ll have to visit again!

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Running south-west from Coldstream to Templestowe, via Chirnside Park, Wonga Park and Warrandyte, I was first tipped off to the existence of the transmission line by someone who lives in the area.

The path taken was quite easy to see on the Melway – the eastern end is located at tower T293 in Coldstream.

While the western end terminates at tower T342 in Templestowe.

Eventually I paid a visit in person, and the dead-end nature of the transmission line was easy to see.

The northern end at Coldstream is located alongside two 500 kV transmission lines.

While the Templestowe end is located among the transmission lines that serve the Templestowe Terminal Station.

But unfortunately I was no closer to finding the reasons for the lines laying abandoned, until my recent post on transmission line crossovers. What started with an exploration of power lines in Sydney, expanded to Rowville Terminal Station in Melbourne, and then down a rabbit hole of State Electricity Commission of Victoria reports.

I eventually landed on a 1983 report on transmission lines serving Melbourne by the Natural Resources and Environment Committee. The purpose of the report was as follows:

This report specifically addresses the SEC’s proposal for a 500 000 volt transmission line from Coldstream to South Morang and in particular:

(i) The need for reinforcing transmission to the 500 000 volt terminal stations in the outer metropolitan area;
(ii) The feasible route to be subjected to detailed examination of environmental issues; and
(iii) The recommended process for assessment and approval of the route in this instance.

The report detailed the current state of the high voltage transmission lines linking the power stations of the Latrobe Valley to Melbourne.

The existing transmission system from the Latrobe Valley to the Melbourne metropolitan areas consists of three 220 kV double circuit lines and three 500 kV single circuit lines.

Two of the 500 kV lines were established in the late 1960s on a northern easement in conjunction with the Hazelwood Power Station and supply the western metropolitan area from the Keilor Terminal Station (KTS). The lines were routed via Coldstream and South Morang with one line being on a direct Coldstream to South Morang easement and the other routed via Templestowe to provide for later development of supply for the north-eastern metropolitan area. The easements from Coldstream to South Morang were each approved with capacity for a second circuit, thereby providing for the four incoming 500 kV lines to South Morang.

The third 500 kV line was established in late 1982 on a southern easement via Cranbourne, Narre Warren and Templestowe, in conjunction with commercial service of the completed Yallourn W Power Station and in preparation for service of the initial Loy Yang A units. The planning permission for the section of this line between Hazelwood and Cranbourne included easement provision for two further 500 kV lines. The section between Cranbourne and South Morang was established on an existing easement.

As well as how the SEC planned to add a fourth 500 kV transmission line into the system:

The further 500 kV line from Hazelwood to Melbourne is planned to be established on the southern 500 kV easement adjacent to the existing 500 kV line from Hazelwood to Templestowe. The section of the line between Narre Warren and Templestowe has already been constructed and the Rowville to Templestowe part of this section is temporarily in service at 220 kV.

And the interesting bit – the abandonment of the transmission line between Coldstream and Templestowe.

To achieve connection of the fourth 500 kV transmission line into South Morang, the SEC propose to take the existing second 500 kV line (the southern circuit on the northern easement) directly into South Morang from Coldstream, so as to free up the section between Templestowe and South Morang for inclusion as part of the fourth 500 000 volt line.

The short section on the northern easement between Templestowe and Coldstream would then be left out-of-service until the future establishment of new 500 kV switching stations at Templestowe and Coldstream.

If that wasn’t clear as mud, this diagram depicted the current state, as well as three proposals for adding a fourth 500 kV circuit between Hazelwood and Melbourne.

Abandoning a section of high voltage transmission line sounds like an odd thing to do – something which Mr. R.F. English, resident of the Bend of Islands Environmental Living Zone immediately adjacent to the proposed transmission line easement, pointed out in his submission to the Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

The decision to take the Coldstream to Templestowe 500 kV line out of service until at least the fifth 500 kV line is constructed and required – this would probably be in at least 25 years or more.

As the Coldstream to Templestowe line is approximately 20 kilometres long, and based on $470,000 per km, this would mean a $9 million asset would remain idle and depreciating for 25 years.

This appears to me to reflect a gross planning error in the SEC’s long term plans “to scar the landscape with 500 kV power lines”.

So what ended up happening?

And you guessed it – State Electricity Commission of Victoria got their way, with the fourth 500 kV transmission line being pushed through the Bay of Islands bushland along the “LV1: second Coldstream to South Morang line” route, and the transmission line from Coldstream to Templestowe abandoned.

But will it be used in the future?

Back in the 1980s the SECV believed that a fifth 500 kV transmission line would be required by 1990 to serve the increasing energy demand of Melbourne.

But this prediction was overly optimistic – development of the massive 4,00 MW Driffield Project west of Morwell was abandoned follwing a change of government, and the Loy Yang power station petered out at 3,250 MW of the 4,400 MW capacity originally planned.

In 2009 Victorian energy network operator VENCorp dusted off the old SEC plans, in their ‘Vision 2030’ document:

Development of eastern corridor distribution

A new (fifth) 500 kV power line from the Latrobe Valley to Melbourne via the Northern easement terminating at Templestowe via Coldstream, and establishment of new 500 kV switching stations at Coldstream and Templestowe (140 km). This line would incorporate the currently unused 500 kV line between Coldstream and Templestowe.

Cost: $460 million

But with the decommissioning Hazelwood power station, no new coal fired power stations on the horizon, and the rapid growth of distributed rooftop solar and battery storage, the need for additional capacity between Melbourne and the Latrobe Valley seems redundant.

And another example

Sent in by a reader – a dead end transmission line outside the Geelong Terminal Station.

The transmission line runs north towards the Moorabool Terminal Station, but terminates a short distance to the south.

My guess – the original 220 kV circuit to Geelong was replaced by parallel 220 kV circuits on a new set of pylons, with a 220 KV circuit to Terang taking over the northern-most part of the easement.

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They were located either side of Luddenham Road in the semi-rural suburb of Orchard Hills. One set to the east, the other to the west.

This is what they looked like from overhead.

In my travels around Victoria, I’ve never seen overhead line crossovers – the only examples I can think of place the lower voltage line underground, such as the Geelong-Portland 500kV line outside Bannockburn.

So what’s the story up in Sydney?

Wikipedia has something to say on everything, including overhead line crossings:

At crossings of overhead lines by other overhead lines, the two lines must be kept at the necessary safety distances between the lines and the ground. As a rule, the line with the lower voltage passes under the line with higher voltage.

Construction workers try to plan these crossings in such a way that their construction is as economical as possible. This is usually done by leaving unchanged the line that is crossed, if possible.

Undercrossings of existing lines are often constructed in proximity to the line’s pylons, since this can often be accomplished without raising the existing pylons and while keeping the necessary safety distances between the ground and the other line.

Luckily the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has plenty of information on their website, including a handy dandy map of overhead transmission lines, as well as a network diagram showing the individual circuits that make up the national grid.

That allowed me to identify the three transmission lines I had found outside Sydney:

• Line 38 and 32: double 330kV circuits between Sydney West and Regentville,
• Line 39: single 330kV circuit between Sydney West and Bannaby, and
• Line 5A1 and 5A2: double 500kV circuits between Kemps Creek and Eraring.

So the explanation from Wikipedia seems to hold here as well – the 500kV transmission line is on the top, with the lower voltage 330kV lines sneaking below: one via a non-standard pair of pylons, the other thanks to the extra clearance from a higher than normal pylon.

And a Victorian example

One of my Twitter followers pointed out this interesting setup at the Rowville Terminal Station in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs – what looks to be a two three phase bus bars running at ground level, while aerial transmission lines pass over the top.

But they aren’t conventional air insulated bus bars, but ducts filled with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas.

500kV power lines in SF6 ducts at Rowville Terminal Station, Australia [2592×1944][OC]

Such technology is usually used for underground high voltage transmission lines, but at Rowville it was for a different reason – this whitepaper by CGIT Westboro has the details:

Rowville is a 550 kV above ground installation located in Melbourne, Australia.
The sole purpose of the gas insulated bus was to safely transmit two, three phase circuits of 550 kV power across an existing 230 kV overhead transmission corridor.

The customer’s main concern in this project was the possible mechanical failure of either the 230 kV or 550 kV (if overhead lines were used) transmission towers or lines. Failure of one or the other could result in damage to the lower feeder such that outages would be much more inclusive and costly.

The grounded enclosure sheath of the CGIT, however, would protect the ground level 550 kV line from breakdown and prevent further outages to result from 230 kV line failure.

A spare phase was installed at the request of the customer as a further precaution should a single phase of CGIT experience a breakdown. In the event of single-phase failure, this would reduce the outage time to a matter of hours by simply adjusting the line feeder leads accordingly.

The tech specs are as follows:

Commissioned 1979 (first circuit)
Additional circuit commissioned 1984

Voltage Rating: 550 kV
Current Rating: 3000 A
BIL rating: 1800A
2 circuits, including spare phase of GIL
Length: 235m

An expensive, though very ingenious solution!

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