Construction kicks off to secure Sunshine Coast power supply

Work at Palmwoods on a $9.4 million substation upgrade will secure power supply for the growing Sunshine Coast and support 23 jobs.

Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said publicly-owned Powerlink was replacing the substation’s ageing secondary systems equipment to ensure a continued reliable electricity supply to the Sunshine Coast region.

“The Sunshine Coast has a number of major projects in the pipeline including SunCentral CBD, the airport extension, health precinct development and new master-planned communities,” he said.

“The Palmwoods substation is a major injection point in Powerlink’s transmission network and supplies Mooloolaba, Nambour, Beerwah and Caboolture.

“This project will underpin the long-term safe, reliable and cost-effective performance of the transmission network in this rapidly-growing region.

“This investment will safeguard electricity supply on the Sunshine Coast for years to come.”

A new 28-tonne building will house the secondary systems. Powerlink is currently testing the control building at its Brisbane site. Secondary systems are the control, protection and communications equipment that operate the transmission network and prevent damage to physical plant in the substation such as transformers.

Powerlink Interim Chief Executive Kevin Kehl said replacing the secondary systems at the Palmwoods Substation would boost Powerlink’s capability to respond to any unexpected network issues.

“This project replaces the systems that allow us to manage our network which are critical to monitoring and operating our assets,” he said.

Constructions work will start in the coming weeks. Work will take until late 2020.

Queensland’s publicly-owned electricity companies – Powerlink, Ergon, Energex, CS Energy, Stanwell Corp and CleanCo, will invest more than $2.2 billion on capital works in 2019-20, supporting up to 4900 jobs.

Media enquiries: Minister’s office David Potter 0428 411 617; Powerlink 24-hour media line – 3860 2654