The HumeLink West project has successfully trialled the replacement of 100% dependency on diesel engine powered electricity generation at a substation site, with a 123 kWh hybrid solar battery system.
Reducing diesel power generation to just one hour per day, the system has been installed at the Maragle substation site, located 509 kilometres southwest of Sydney, and is where HumeLink will connect to the Snowy 2.0 hydro project.
The solar battery system has reduced power generation carbon emissions by 98%, or the equivalent of taking 65 cars off the road each day.
As a result of the trial, Sydney-headquartered engineering company UGL and construction company CPB Contractors are installing the systems at eight key project sites including at construction materials and equipment storage facilities, concrete batch plants and at substation work sites – equating to the emissions reduction of taking over 300 cars off the road each day.
In a New South Wales (NSW) network operator Transgrid update on the project, it says 12 HumeLink West transmission towers have been erected, with up to 100 scheduled for completion by mid year, along with stringing of the first conductors between towers.
“Almost a third of the more than 360 tower pads have so far been excavated, with foundation crews moving in to drill and pour the deep foundation piles needed to anchor each tower in place,” the update says.
The towers, on average, will be 72 metres tall and spaced 300 to 500 metres apart.
Over 40,000 cubic metres of earth has been moved to prepare foundation pads for HumeLink West, along with permanent drainage systems at each of the sites.
The update also says tower assembly and erection is continuing on HumeLink East, with more than 11 towers now erected in the southern region, with construction of access points, tracks, tower pads, brake-and-winch pads, and piling ongoing.
HumeLink is a major $4.8 billion (USD 3.4 billion), 365 km, 500 kV electricity transmission project in southern NSW, Australia, designed to connect Wagga Wagga, Bannaby, and Maraglej, that will connect to 3 GW of renewable energy.
Developed by Transgrid, it connects the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme to the grid to increase renewable energy capacity and improve reliability.
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