Temporary substation powers the Western Downs

A temporary $1 million substation has been installed at Chinchilla to boost electricity supplies to the growing region, Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said today.

Mr Wilson said Ergon Energy had installed the substation while it developed plans for a major overhaul of the bulk electricity supply network in the region.

“Chinchilla, in the heart of the Western Downs, is booming. It’s a place where mining and pastoral industries are thriving and the community is growing at an equally rapid pace,” he said.

“This upgrade will ensure the region’s power supply network can meet demand well into the future.

“Building the temporary substation enables Ergon Energy to meet the town’s immediate need for more capacity, while also being flexible enough to fit in with a longer-term redevelopment plan.”

It is only the second time Ergon Energy has employed a skid-mounted substation in its vast distribution network across regional Queensland.

Mr Wilson said at a cost of $700,000, installing a temporary substation was a quicker and more cost-effective way of meeting the need for greater capacity in the network until the long-term solution was built.

“The substation was constructed at Ergon Energy’s Virginia Workshops in Brisbane and transported to Chinchilla mounted on a platform, ready to be placed on a pad near the existing bulk supply substation,” he said.

“It was then connected into the network through ingoing and outgoing circuit-breakers and brought into service much more quickly than a permanent facility could be.

“And later on, it can be picked up and transported to another part of Queensland to be used again once it is no longer required in Chinchilla.”

Mr Wilson said the rapid and ongoing level of development occurring in Chinchilla had made augmenting the capacity of the existing distribution network essential.

The temporary substation has been built on land already owned by Ergon Energy at the western end of Slessar Street, on the southern side of the existing Chinchilla 132/33kV bulk supply substation.

The new 33/11kV substation has a 5MVA transformer that supplies a new feeder delivering power into Chinchilla.

The existing 33/11kV distribution substation in Slessar Street, near the Ergon Energy depot, remains in operation.

Mr Wilson said another advantage of the new substation is that it will allow the transformers in the existing substation to be taken out of service for maintenance without disrupting power supplies to residents and businesses.

Media contact: Minister’s office 3224 7332.