While the independent engineering review of the lines company’s network by WSP found most of its assets pose a low risk to public safety, there were some areas which need to be fixed.
An executive summary of the review was released publicly today but a full report will not be available until next week.
WSP manager Michael Van Doornik said the review found most of Aurora’s assets posed a low risk to public safety, reliability and the environment, but there was still some work do be done to address the most high-risk assets.
Overall most of the risks identified were no greater than what WSP has observed in other networks but there were some exceptions.
As well as the already known issue with the lines company’s pole network, there were also risks associated with support structures such as cross-arms.
The review found there were 35 incidents between 2015 and 2018 in which a conductor fell to the ground but remained live because the protection system failed.
Improvements could also be made to the way Aurora stored and used the data it collected.
The review took eight months to complete and cost about $400,000.
Aurora Energy chief executive Richard Fletcher said the review highlighted specific areas were the company needed to take steps to address the existing and emerging risks.
Overall the network was safe, though the condition of its protection systems, poles and cross arms carried a higher risk but Aurora was working through the renewal backlog to minimise that risk, Dr Fletcher said.
“The findings of the independent review support our planned investment in critical areas and has prompted us to make some refinements to condition and risk assessment, and to reprioritise some of our planned work.”
The company plans to invest $748.4 million investing in its ageing network in the next 10 years which included replacing poor condition assets which included poles, cross-arms, overhead lines, zone substation switch-gear and protection systems.
