What did we do?
We replaced six transmission towers along the Sydenham to Moorabool 500kV transmission line near Anakie. These new towers replaced those that collapsed during the severe weather event in February 2024.Emergency works were carried out to install temporary towers and re-energise the line. Construction of the new permanent towers started in August 2024.
What did this project involve?
Immediately following the collapse of the towers, we designed and started planning for the construction of the new towers.
The new transmission towers were designed to meet the latest version of the Australian Standard AS7000 ‘Overhead Line Design’ and our specific design standards.
Our delivery partner Zinfra did the following replacement works:
- installed foundations
- installed new towers and conductor wires
- removed the temporary towers
- restored the project area close to its original state.
Impact of the February storms
A Network Outage Review, led by a panel of independent experts, was commissioned by the Victorian Government regarding the February 2024 storms. In its final report, the panel noted that:
On the afternoon of 13 February 2024, a significant storm crossed Victoria causing heavy rainfall and damaging winds. During this storm, Victoria experienced wind gusts of more than 110 kilometres per hour (kms/h) and as high as 150kms/h. The event caused significant damage to trees, buildings and infrastructure including the electricity network.
It was during this storm that the six transmission towers near Anakie collapsed.
We last inspected the transmission towers in July 2023 and found them to be in good condition with no overdue maintenance.
There are a number of storm related reviews and investigations underway, including an investigation by Energy Safe Victoria into the tower collapse. We are assisting with these reviews and investigations and working closely with Energy Safe Victoria.
Local impacts during construction
We spoke with landholders who have these towers on their properties and worked with them to minimise impacts to their land, businesses and farming operations throughout the project.
There was traffic management in the area during the construction period, to protect the safety of our crews and road users