A substation upgrade and the installation of a new 7.2km feeder line in Waikiki have been completed.
The works are part of Western Power’s investment of $10.4 million to upgrade the electricity grid following unprecedented load conditions during the Christmas 2021 heatwave.
The upgrades at Waikiki aimed at better managing capacity overloads, include the installation of a new 7.2km feeder and interconnectors to provide additional switching and offload capability within the network, to improve reliability for homes and businesses.
Western Power Executive Manager Zane Christmas said Western Power had worked collaboratively with the Public Transport Authority who are currently conducting major works in the area.
“The work is aimed at improving reliability and to enable better network management during consecutive extreme hot weather days, as well as providing capacity for future connections in this growing part of the metropolitan area.
“While we cannot guarantee 100 per cent reliability, we’re doing everything we can to improve network resilience to minimise the duration and number of unplanned outages.
“As the Bureau of Meteorology has forecasted this summer to be as hot or hotter than last year, we’re doing what we can to strengthen the network well ahead of time.”