Major power boost for the Redlands

Nearly 10,000 homes and businesses in the Cleveland area will benefit from a major electricity upgrade of the local power network by Energex.

Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said the $4.3 million upgrade was carried out in two stages.

“In the first stage, an extra transformer at the Cleveland substation boosted the capacity of the local network by 30%,” Mr Wilson said.

“Stage two involved laying 1.2 kilometres of 11,000 volt underground cables around the Cleveland CBD and surrounding roadways to cater for increasing local demands in electricity.

“The upgrades will help meet significant future growth in the Cleveland area which is in one of the fastest-growing regions in Energex’s south east Queensland network,” Mr Wilson said.

“Factors such as rapid commercial expansion, affordable home air-conditioning, and the fact that households and businesses use far more electricity now than they were 10 years ago were the drivers behind the new upgrades,” he said.

“As well as boosting the power capacity, the new work allows Energex technicians to restore power faster by giving them more options to divert electricity from other parts of the network should unexpected interruptions occur.

Member for Cleveland, Phil Weightman welcomed the new work.

“This is the second major upgrade to the electricity network in the Redlands in the past 12 months.

“Early this year, Energex commissioned a new $7.3 million substation in Birkdale to boost the capacity to the immediate area, as well as Capalaba and Cleveland’s southern tips.

“And recently, a $120,000 upgrade was completed on a North Stradbroke Island substation transformer increasing its capacity by more than 20%,” he said.

Mr Weightman said the latest $4.3 million upgrade would help meet future demands for power in the region.

This financial year, Energex is investing $827 million on upgrades to its electricity network while a further $306 million has been set aside to maintain and operate the network – an overall average of more than $3 million a day.

Media Inquiries: Ellen McIntyre 3225 1819