Substation upgrade secures supply for North Qld

A $13 million upgrade to Broadsound Substation in Central Queensland will help secure power supply from Rockhampton to Cairns.

Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the upgrade to Broadsound Substation near Marlborough would help deliver a reliable supply of electricity to Queenslanders from Rocky, west to Emerald and north to Cairns.

โ€œThe Broadsound Substation, located west of Marlborough, was built in 1984 and is critical to transporting power generated in Central Queensland to communities in north and western Queensland,โ€ Dr Lynham said.

โ€œThis important project supported up to 31 jobs and has extended the substationโ€™s life and delayed the need to establish new infrastructure.

โ€œThe work was done in stages to maintain reliable supply to customers.โ€

The upgrade was to secondary systemsโ€“the control, protection and communications equipment that operates the transmission network and prevents damage to physical plant in the substation such as transformers.

Powerlink chief executive Merryn York said the upgrade boosted Powerlinkโ€™s capabilities in responding to network issues.

โ€œThe secondary systems upgrade focused on replacing the systems that allow us to manage our network which are critical to the monitoring and operation of our assets,โ€ Ms York said.

ย โ€œPowerlinkโ€™s asset management approach is to maintain reliability and safety at the lowest long run cost to customers.โ€

โ€œSecondary system projects such as this are cost-effective solutions that avoid or delay the need to establish new infrastructure.โ€

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