In October 2018, Powerlink published a ‘Project Specification Consultation Report’ (PSCR) to address the secondary systems condition risks at Woree Substation.

Powerlink has recently published an Addendum to the PSCR to provide the most recent information on the estimated capital costs of the proposed network options. Due to the proportionate nature of the capital cost increase across all options, there has been no change to the relative rankings, sensitivity analysis or to the preferred option identified in the PSCR.

Located 6km south of the Cairns Central Business District, Woree Substation is the major 132kV injection point into the Ergon Energy distribution network for Cairns. It also forms part of the far-north zone transmission network, with direct connection to Chalumbin Substation.

Most of the secondary systems at Woree Substation are reaching the end of their technical service life, and are no longer supported by the manufacturer, with few spares available.

The proposed preferred option that is considered to satisfy the Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T) involves replacing the Static Var Compensator secondary systems with new secondary systems and replacement of selected substation secondary system panels by December 2022 in one new and one existing building. The balance of work is completed over 3 stages in 2025, 2028 and 2033.

The estimated capital cost of the work to be carried out by December 2022 under the RIT-T is $11.29 million in 2018/19 prices.

In accordance with the requirements of the Rules, a summary of the PSCR is made available on the AEMO website. A copy of the Addendum and the amended ‘Project Specification Consultation Report’ can be obtained from the Powerlink website on the RIT-T Consultations page or by emailing networkassessments@powerlink.com.au.

Submissions on the PSCR are required by the closing date of Friday 15 March 2019.

Any enquiries in the first instance should be directed to:

Roger Smith
Manager Network and Alternate Solutions
Powerlink Queensland
PO Box 1193
VIRGINIA, QLD 4014

Tel: (+617) 3860 2328

• Summary of the PSCR (223 KB, pdf)