With the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a severe heatwave warning for parts of the State over the coming days, Western Power is preparing the network for challenging weather conditions, and peak electricity demand.
With the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a severe heatwave warning for parts of the State over the coming days, Western Power is preparing the network for challenging weather conditions, and peak electricity demand.
Western Power Executive Manager Asset Management Archana Viswanathan said extensive summer preparedness and bushfire mitigation work had been done to prepare the network for summer but, like all electricity networks, extra precautions are taken during prolonged days of high temperatures.
“While the network is built to withstand very hot temperatures, sustained extreme temperatures and fire weather conditions can impact network infrastructure and our ability to restore power.
“During these periods we adjust our network settings to reduce fire related risks, which may increase the frequency and duration of potential power outages.
“Safety of the community and our crews is paramount and to minimise the risk of bushfire we will only re-energise when safe to do so.
"In addition, we take steps to ensure we’re prepared including looking at where non-critical planned works can be postponed and planning for extra resources and crews for the days ahead.
“We ask people to be patient if they are experiencing an outage during the challenging conditions ahead. This includes the metro area as fire weather conditions can impact restoration times if an asset traverses a heavily vegetated area like a park.”
Ms Viswanathan said the resilience of the network to cope with additional load demand had been enhanced prior to summer through the upgrade of some distribution feeders and transformers, changes to load balancing and switching and obtaining more emergency response generators.
During peak energy hours (5pm and 9pm), you can help by shifting your energy use and reducing power consumption, including setting your air conditioner to 24 degrees, and changing the time you use appliances with high energy consumption like induction cooktops, dishwashers, washing machines and pool pumps to non-peak times.