Release Date: 13 January 2010
Western Power has deployed helicopters to patrol powerlines to carry out vital line washing in the Bunbury region to improve the reliability and quality of power supply to customers.
The work to wash the powerlines will occur between 21 and 30 January 2010. The helicopter may be required to land in paddocks to inspect powerlines or to refuel. If you have livestock and are concerned about helicopters working near your property you are encourage to contact 13 10 87 to find out when the helicopter will be in your area.
Western Power spokesperson Marisa Chapman said line washing was an important part of the maintenance of Western Power’s 322,000 square kilometre network of lines, the Western Power network covers some of the more isolated and inaccessible parts of the network that has over 800,000 poles and more than 200,000 km wires.
“The use of helicopters to wash the lines and insulators clean of dust that accumulates during the long hot months is an innovative solution to the challenge of maintaining the reliability of Western Power’s vast network of lines,” Ms Chapman said.
“The area that Western Power’s network covers is so vast the use of a helicopter is the only viable choice for inspecting the lines in regional areas,” Ms Chapman said.
“Built up dust, especially after harvest, can enable electricity to leak from the lines over the insulators and cause pole top fires and faults.
“The advantage of using the helicopters is that they can hover very close to the pole to direct the high pressure hoses directly onto our equipment”, she said.
The helicopters carry specially trained crews who will use a high pressure spray of demineralised water to remove dust and residue from lines.
“The helicopters allow us to transfer crews very quickly around the network, identify defects on lines and carry out numerous tasks we could not carry out as effectively otherwise.”
Ms Chapman said the helicopter crew is a highly trained and specialized unit that has worked on electrical infrastructure around the world.
If you have any questions regarding this media release please email us: media@westernpower.com.au
Page update on 13 January 2010
