Ergon Energy will undertake a power reliability improvement project to Tambo, located in Central West Queensland, worth more than half a million dollars.
The corporation’s general manager service delivery central Steve Leighton said the program is designed to address the short duration interruptions that have been affecting the community for some time.
The project will reduce the instances of bird strikes on the main supply line from Blackall that have been the main cause of these intermittent trips on the system.
In the majority of cases it’s caused by large-wingspan birds such as plains turkeys flying into lines and causing a clash, which triggers inbuilt protection on the high voltage network to operate.
The protection equipment is designed to operate in this manner to avoid major damage to the network and ensure public safety.
“We fully appreciate and understand that this has been a source of annoyance and inconvenience for the community and following deputations from Blackall Tambo Council Deputy Mayor Richelle Johnson and chief executive officer Ken Timms, we have committed to this improvement project,” Mr Leighton said.
The project will involve raising the height of the centre conductor on the line by installing centre post insulators on 180 concrete poles and installing centre conductor raisers on 131 wood poles in the high risk bird strike zone between Greendale amenities and Tambo.
Construction is scheduled to start late July and Ergon is hoping to have the work completed by the end of August.
The local Blackall crews will use a combination of live line work and planned outage measures.
