Western Power has begun a $6 million roll out of about 100 Early Fault Detection Devices (EFDs) on power poles along select regional feeders to boost safety and reliability.
The roll-out follows a successful trial of 30 EFDs on power poles in the metro area.
The regional rollout is concentrated on regional feeders experiencing reliability challenges in the local government areas of Albany, Augusta-Margaret River, Greater Geraldton, Kondinin, Kulin, Lake Grace, Merredin, Manjimup, Plantagenet, West Arthur, Cunderdin, Dandaragan, Gingin and Chittering. Funded through Western Power’s $88M Regional Connect program, the installation of EFDs aims to reduce the frequency and duration of outages caused by damaged conductors, insulators, transformers, overhead switchgear and vegetation.
Western Power Head of Asset Performance Archana Viswanathan said the solar and battery powered devices had sensors that monitored the overhead lines and transmit data to a server for the engineers to analyse.
Multiple EFD units are installed along a feeder in pairs, typically spaced 3-5 km apart. They continuously monitor the network for abnormal electrical fluctuations that may indicate a developing fault.
“These devices enable us to pinpoint the location of a potential fault before it happens and give us the information, we need to intervene early to prevent an outage,” she said.
The new EFDs will be installed on regional feeders with known reliability challenges—particularly in areas where fault causes are difficult to diagnose – for example, long rural feeders that experience frequent unexplained trips.
“We are also investigating whether these devices can assist with the prediction of pole-top fires,” she said.
“Pole-top fires are seasonal, are triggered by specific weather conditions and are facilitated by accumulated pollution on the insulator surface, factors that might not be detectable by visual inspections.
“We will be closely monitoring and analysing the data from these devices to determine whether they can play a role as an early warning system or even a preventative measure to minimise the impact of pole fires on our network and customers.”
The new EFDs will be rolled out by the end of 2027.
The initial trial involved the installation of 30 EFD units across 6 feeders in Western Power’s metropolitan network (in the cities of Cockburn, Canning, Gosnells, Joondalup and Stirling). The equipment successfully identified several faults which could otherwise have gone undetected, enabling quick and timely mitigation and repair.