Applicants should review the process and rules for the connection of new generators or customer facilities and equipment to Western Power's South West Interconnected System before submitting an application. The information presented below generally applies to the transmission system, which operates at voltages of 66kV and above.
For further information please contact Western Power on 13 10 87 or email us.
Under the Access Arrangement, a Connection Application cannot proceed unless all the mandatory fields in the application form have been filled appropriately.
Applicants unable to provide all the mandatory information may initiate an Access Enquiry by contacting Western Power. We will provide a proposal to assist the applicant with their enquiry if the cost of professional services will be recovered from the potential applicant.
For more information, please refer to Connection to the network fact sheet (PDF 266kb).
Applicant forms need to be completed, with the required attachments (drawings etc), and emailed to the Networks Access team.
From 1 July 2007 Western Power's Access Arrangement governs access to the SWIS. The Access Arrangement was approved by the Economic Regulation Authority's Further Final Decision on 26 April 2007.
Western Power will process connection applications in accordance with the Applications and Queuing Policy (PDF 192kb), which is part of the Access Arrangement. For a condensed "user friendly" version please refer to the Queuing Rules fact sheet (PDF 462 kb).
Before submitting an application, applicants should familiarise themselves with the requirements of the Technical Rules.
The Technical Rules have been approved by the Economic Regulation Authority under the Electricity Networks Access Code.
This Generator Grid Connection Guide (PDF 579kb) provides background information on aspects of power systems that are particularly pertinent to generators and gives a high level overview of the requirements to connect a generator to the SWIS. Most generator proponents will require the advice and services of specialised power system analysis engineers in order to provide required data and meet the requirements for connection. This guide is intended to assist in understanding the requirements of the Western Power technical rules but does not replace the technical rules.
The applicant may be required to contribute to the costs of any Interconnection Works undertaken by Western Power to provide the applicant with the new connection in line with the Capital Contribution Policy. For a condensed "user friendly" version please refer to the Capital Contribution Policy fact sheet (PDF 214kb).
Completion of an access application requires specialist power engineering knowledge and access to detailed technical information that may only be available from equipment manufacturers. It is recommended that you consult a suitably qualified engineer experienced in power system modelling.
Once you have submitted your application, a networks account manager will be assigned to liaise with you and help resolve any issues that arise. To process the application, Western Power must take the steps outlined below. Prior to starting this work, your networks account manager will prepare a proposal to be submitted for your approval, outlining the expected cost of processing the application.
The application process and response time standards are set out in the Access Arrangement. The time required to process an application is dependent on the complexity of the application and the time required for the applicant to prepare inputs required by Western Power. The minimum time you should allow for the simplest of applications to be processed to a formal Access Offer is three months. Complex applications have taken as long as 18 months.
For more information, or to view the 'high level' process, please ref to the Connect to the network factsheet (PDF 198kb).
To view PDF files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Customers with accessibility issues.
Page update on 3 December 2008
