Raymond Island will soon be connected to the mainland by an underground cable, with AusNet in the process of replacing the overhead powerline across McMillians Strait in Gippsland Lakes.
Raymond Island’s power supply is currently connected by an overhead powerline on Fort King Road in Paynesville, running across McMillans Strait in Gippsland Lakes.
Late last year a marine incident damaged the powerline, causing a power outage on the island. AusNet deployed a backup generator to the area while the powerline was repaired.
AusNet Executive General Manager Distribution, Andrew Linnie said we are focused on improving the resilience of our network and this underground cable will result in benefits to our customers on Raymond Island’s energy supply, making the region more resilient to future storm and weather events.
“Replacing the overhead line with a new underground cable will also avoid future incidents like the one that occurred last year,” said Mr Linnie.
This upgrade will also remove the requirement for vessel height restrictions at the northern end of McMillans Strait, which are currently in place due to the overhead powerline.
The most significant elements of this upgrade will take place on Wednesday 25 June. AusNet has already completed work to prepare for the removal of the overhead powerline and switching over to the new underground cable.
“We will be using large machinery to replace existing power poles with new ones, undertaking underground boring works to install the new cable three metres below the seabed and doing cable hauling works to recover the existing powerline,” said Mr Linnie.
“The power supply will need to be turned off at Raymond Island and parts of Paynesville on Wednesday 25 June from 8.30am till 5pm so we can safely install the new power poles and switch supply over to the new underground cable,” he added.
All affected customers will have already been notified of the upcoming works via SMS or mail.
McMillans Strait will be closed to all traffic from the north approach up to the Fort King Boat Ramp. Gippsland Ports Marine Officers will be patrolling the area for people’s safety while the redundant overhead powerline is removed.
All impacted customers will have already been notified via SMS or mail of the planned outage.
For more details on this project go, see our Raymond Island webpage.