WESTERN
POWER — BYFORD
714. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Energy:
I congratulate the minister on the
recent Western Power substation upgrade in Byford, aimed at improving power
reliability in the area, and I note from his media release of 10 August 2022
that more work is planned around the installation of new feeders in Byford.
(1) Is the minister able to provide
an indicative timetable for such work?
(2) Can he assure
Byford residents that every effort will be made to ensure that the new feeders
are in place ahead of our next summer heatwave so as to avoid a repeat of last
year's unprecedented load conditions and the resulting outages?
Hon
MATTHEW SWINBOURN replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question. The following information has been provided to me by the
Minister for Energy.
(1) The network upgrade at Byford is
planned to be completed 30 November 2022.
(2) Yes. Western Power has accelerated capability and
reliability improvements to minimise the risk of supply disruption in
the event of another unprecedented heatwave. As part of the planned upgrade,
network capacity will be increased through additional feeders and by balancing
load in the Southern River and Byford areas.