Western Power complete $1.3m upgrade to lines, poles to help Wickepin keep the lights on whatever the weather

Residents and businesses in Wickepin should be able to keep the lights on whatever the weather after the completion of a $1.3 million upgrade package by Western Power.

The aim of the work was to improve reliability for homes and businesses in the area, and it included the replacement of 45 poles and 3.6km of powerlines.

Also upgraded were streetlights, insulators and crossarms.

Brett Hovingh, Western Power’s acting executive manager of asset operations, said the enhancements would help the town cope with severe weather events.

“These upgrades will enhance the resilience of the network against external factors like severe storms, heatwaves, bushfires, vegetation and fauna which can damage network infrastructure leading to unplanned outages,” he said.

“As part of this package of work, we upgraded sections of powerline to covered conductor which helps to reduce bushfire risk and minimise the impact of vegetation and wildlife coming into contact with the network.

“We also replaced insulators, helping to reduce the risk of pole-top fires, and upgraded safety protection devices which helps to reduce the duration of outages for the community.”

He said the Wickepin work was part of Western Power’s $1 billion investment in maintaining the network and that supply had been continual during the work except for some planned outages.

“While the upgrades were underway, we installed several emergency response generators to help maintain supply for customers and reduce the duration of any required planed outages,” he said.

“Some planned power outages were necessary to complete the work safely and we thank the community for their patience while we upgraded the power infrastructure in their area.”