Energy Safe Victoria: One in eight regional powerline spans unsafe

Inspections have shown trees are not being kept clear of powerlines, despite the danger of them sparking fires again this summer.

Black Saturday’s Royal Commission found “on catastrophic fire days electrical assets are likely to cause a large proportion of the fires that start”.

Energy Safe Victoria has identified 896 regional powerline spans that failed to meet tree clearance limits, since ramping up its inspection regime in July last year.

The safety regulator has been targeting tree clearances across the state, checking 7773 spans in regional Victoria in a bid to reduce the risk of vegetation hitting powerlines and interrupting supply or sparking fires.

The 896 non-compliant spans, represents almost one in eight of those inspected by ESV.

Across regional Victoria, electricity distribution businesses are responsible for keeping vegetation clear of the majority of powerlines, while councils keep trees clear on public land in some regional cities and towns.

While powerlines account for less than 5 per cent of fires in most years, the royal commission into Victoria’s 2009 Black Saturday found “on catastrophic fire days electrical assets are likely to cause a large proportion of the fires that start”.

ESV reported about 1100 Victorian power outages each year were caused by trees, affecting 400,000 households and businesses – city and country.

“While the social and environmental importance of trees will never be overlooked, community safety and the prevention of power outages, fires and in some cases, death by electrocution, is ESV’s highest priority,” an ESV spokesman said.

Western Victorian distributor Powercor stated that “in 2021, we have completed 95 per cent of our ground and LIDAR inspections in high bushfire risk areas, and have cut vegetation along more than 49,500 spans of powerlines, including more than 30,000 in high risk areas”.

In the east AusNet spokeswoman Helina Lilley said “heavy rain and periods of sunshine has spurred rapid vegetation regrowth across the state, which has prompted a response for us to increase our vegetation program by 28 per cent.

“This year we have invested $38m on vegetation programs for our distribution network. Our program will inspect and cut 56,000 spans of our network in High Bushfire Risk Areas, which is equivalent to trimming about 280,000 trees and the removal of 3500 hazardous trees.”

Since Black Saturday the Andrews government has worked with electricity distributors to install rapid earth fault current limiters at 45 substations by April 2023 and automatic circuit reclosers to limit the risk of powerlines sparking fires.

Last year the Victorian Auditor-General reported electricity distribution businesses were making good progress against the ambitious legislative time frames for this project, which require them to install REFCLs that meet minimum performance standards to 45 zone substations by 30 April 2023, reducing reduce the risk of powerlines starting bushfires by 33.7 per cent.

“However, these businesses anticipate that there may be delays in areas where high-voltage customers have not completed the upgrades needed to make their equipment REFCL ready,” VAGO reported.

The Department of Environment Land, Water and Planning has also used its $200m Powerline Replacement Fund to either insulate or bury 536kms of high-voltage bare-wire powerlines in 11 of Victoria’s 33 highest risk areas, reducing the estimated risk by about 58 per cent in these areas.

Originally published as Energy Safe Victoria: One in eight regional powerline spans unsafe