$10 million power boost for inner city suburbs

Unprecedented residential and commercial growth in the Newstead, New Farm and Fortitude Valley area is the driving force behind a recently completed $10 million power upgrade by ENERGEX.

Minister for Mines and Energy Geoff Wilson said the massive upgrade now provided a more reliable and robust power supply to nearly 4000 homes and businesses in the local area.

“The project involved installing new equipment at the Newstead substation and additional underground cabling to allow for increased capacity in the local power network,” Mr Wilson said.

“ENERGEX has recorded a yearly increase in electricity use of around 8.1% in the city’s CBD in recent years.

“Power use in surrounding suburbs such as Newstead are also growing at similar high rates with many new connections each day.

“And it is these upgrades, in addition to ENERGEX’s associated CityGrid project works, that have given the local community a power network designed to withstand forecast growth for decades to come,” he said.

Member for Brisbane Central, Grace Grace, thanked local residents and businesses for their patience during necessary work and said the benefits to the community were significant as demand for electricity in the area continued to grow.

“Essentially the upgrades are a major part of an overall solution to ensure there is sufficient infrastructure in place to cater for the large numbers of people moving into the inner city suburb and the expansion of local businesses,” Mrs Grace said.

“The new work will also help ENERGEX restore power faster should unexpected interruptions occur, by giving them more options to redirect electricity from other parts of the network,” she said.

With the electrical network upgrades complete, ENERGEX is now improving the visual amenity of the upgrades with landscaping and revegetation.

Mrs Grace said the Newstead project was part of a record $4 billion-plus, five-year capital expenditure program currently being undertaken by ENERGEX.

ENERGEX is investing $827 million this year on upgrades to its electricity network while a further $306 million has been set aside to maintain and operate the network – that’s an overall average of more than $3 million a day.

Media inquiries: Brooke Johnson (07) 3224 7332

13 November 2007