Lancelin residents will have backup power from a new high voltage injection unit in the event of long unplanned outages on the network, according to Western Power.

Western Power asset management executive manager Gair Landsborough said high voltage injection unit (HVIUs) connect several emergency response generators together, that were monitored and managed remotely, to power a bigger area than would normally be possible when using a single generator.

Mr Landsborough said the Lancelin HVIU was able to support around 1100 homes and businesses in Lancelin in the event of a fault on the feeder line, reducing the duration of outages for the community.

“The HVIU was commissioned last week and successfully switched on for the first time (on Thursday) providing backup power to the Lancelin community within 25 minutes of the unplanned outage occurring,” he said.

“The HVIU powered the townsite for 90mins while the fault on the feeder line was repaired.”

The rollout of the unit is part of the regional connect program, funded through an $88 million allocation by the Economic Regulation Authority to address regional reliability under Western Power’s access arrangement 5 (AA5).

“Lancelin faces unique challenges when it comes to power reliability as it sits at the end of a long feeder line and power assets are spread over a large area that’s exposed to harsh and corrosive conditions.

“The HVIU is located within 1km of the edge of town which means it can supply backup generation if there’s a fault anywhere along the main feeder line from Regans terminal and the majority of the spur line to Lancelin.

“The installation of the HVIU was identified as a medium-term solution to improve power reliability through collaboration with the Lancelin community as part of the regional connect program.”

He said Western Power worked to expedite the design and implementation of the new HVIU to ensure it was operational in time for the summer season.

Other improvement works completed as part of the regional connect program include the installation and upgrade of protection devices and switches to improve fault finding capability, network flexibility and reliability.

This article appeared on Yanchep News Online on 8 December 2024.