To meet increasing demand in the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas, TransGrid has progressed with the Western 500kV Project. It represents the largest project ever undertaken by TransGrid on every scale.
The project focuses on operating the western backbone of the core NSW transmission network at 500kV rather than 330kV to maximise the useful capacity of all the transmission lines that supply the Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong load centres. The Western 500kV is the culmination of planning and development by TransGrid over the past 30 years.
The Western 500kV project comprises the following works:
- Construction of a 500kV switchyards at Bayswater and Mt Piper,
- Construction new 500/330kV Substations at Bannaby and Wollar, and
- Upgrading 330kV equipment at Wallerawang 330kV switching station.
2009 represents a milestone with Bayswater Substation being completed during January and the uprating of Wallerawang and Mt Piper switchyards completed during March. In addition, the first of the two 500kV lines between Bayswater and Mt Piper power stations was placed in service.
The second milestone for the project was achieved in June 2009 when Macquarie Generation completed installation of the 500kV generator transformers and commenced generation into the 500kV system.
The Western 500kV project is an impressive project from a design, environmental and stakeholder perspective. A critical component of the project is the design and supply of seven banks of three single phase 1500MVA 500/330kV transformers, a total of 21 units by Toshiba Japan. 18 of these units were shipped from Japan to Newcastle and then by heavy haulage road transporters to Bayswater, Mt Piper and Bannaby. The last three units, for Wollar, are due towards the end of 2009.
Significant upgrades were made to the community during the construction of the project. For instance, in building Bannaby Substation, TransGrid invested $1.5 million into building a road linking Taralga with the new TransGrid substation at Bannaby.
For more information on the Western 500kV project: