Ministerial Statement

                            Collinsville powers ahead

Mr Speaker, I am delighted to inform the House that Powerlink Queensland has successfully completed complex work that was needed to commission a second 132,000 volt transformer at the Collinsville substation.

The substation has now been restored to its full operating capacity.

It’s an important milestone.

Powerlink has been hard at work since the two transformers at Collinsville were damaged in separate incidents earlier this year.

A crow hit one, and the transformer short-circuited. And not long afterwards, lightning struck the other.

But now there are two new high voltage transformers in place at the substation.

And either of them can supply the entire Collinsville area if one transformer is off line unexpectedly.

Powerlink, working with Ergon Energy, put in many hours of hard work to install the first replacement transformer in March, and they’ve redoubled their efforts to install the second transformer.

I take this opportunity to thank the Collinsville community for their patience and understanding during the substation restoration work.

I want to particularly thank the Bowen Shire Council, the local business community, the Collinsville Workers Club, and the Collinsville Lions Club.

The Powerlink and Ergon Energy crews who completed this complex project drew encouragement from the support and understanding of the people of Collinsville.

Powerlink and Ergon Energy workers acted quickly to restore temporary electricity via generators, and worked around-the-clock to install a replacement transformer at the substation.

I also acknowledge the efforts of Energex and their ‘super generator’ which helped with the temporary supply of electricity.

The Collinsville response shows how well our energy corporations work together in emergencies with the united goal of restoring power to communities as quickly and as safely as possible.