‘Devastating’: Half of Top End homes, businesses still without underground power

Progress to put Darwin’s powerlines underground has largely stalled, with half of the Top End’s residents and businesses still vulnerable to disruption from a damaging cyclone.

ROUGHLY half of Top End households risk being plunged into darkness in the coming cyclone season, with the program to underground Darwin’s electricity lines all but stalled.

While the government has hinted at further projects to underground power for the rest of the Territory, no timeline has been provided.

The last suburbs to be completely undergrounded were Nightcliff, Rapid Creek and Millner in 2010, with only a small number of projects to the power supply of schools completed since.

Power and Water has revealed there are still 3562km of above-head power lines across Greater Darwin, dwarfing the 2153km of underground lines across the city.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Greg Ireland said his organisation had concerns about the looming risk of businesses being blacked out for weeks in the event of a cyclone.

“It needs to be a priority for government,” Mr Ireland said.

Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce chief executive Greg Ireland warned a black out to businesses would be “devastating”. Picture: File.

“We know they’re aware of it, but it can’t just sit on the backburner forever.

“If the lights do go out for an extended period of time, it would certainly be an inconvenience to many Territorians, but for the business community it would be devastating.”

While Mr Ireland acknowledged the cost of the undergrounding project, he said it had been “a long period of time” since the last round of significant works.

Essential Services Minister Eva Lawler said roughly half of residents in Darwin and Palmerston were connected to the grid by underground power infrastructure.

Ms Lawler however hinted that more undergrounding would be conducted in coming years. “Our Government is working with Power and Water on options to underground power for the rest of the Territory,” she said.

PowerWater crews worked around the clock to restore power after Cyclone Marcus.

Ms Lawler said Power and Water were currently working on undergrounding power supply to nine Territory schools.

Despite running past homes, residential properties won’t yet have access to those underground lines.

“This work will help make up the backbone for future works to be built off, and we will provide more detail about next stages soon,” Ms Lawler said.

The $3m project to underground power to schools began in the 2019 dry season following Cyclone Marcus, which left many Darwin residents in the dark.

Of the nine schools targeted, Ms Lawler said only two remained yet to be completed and that the project should be finished by the end of 2021.

A Power and Water spokeswoman said the previous undergrounding project, bankrolled by the NT government, ceased in 2010 after funding ended.

“There are 2153km of the power network in Darwin underground and 3562km of overhead powerlines including transmission lines, which includes Darwin’s rural areas,” the spokeswoman said.

“The current (schools) undergrounding project commenced in the 2019 dry season following Cyclone Marcus, which resulted in significant power network damage due to fallen trees.”