New Powercor network safety devices, which saved a man's life near Maryborough in February, are being installed in Ballarat but are coming with their own teething problems.
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New Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) devices have been installed across bushfire regions in the state. The RECFLs are designed to prevent fires when objects such as tree branches fall on lines or when lines hit the ground, by cutting power within milliseconds.
Two are currently being installed at the Ballarat North and South Substations. The Maryborough RECFL was activated recently when a worker operating an excavator near the town repeatedly contacted powerlines. Powercor says the man's life and the lives of two others working with him were saved when the voltage was cut instantly, before crews arrived to secure the scene.
The installation had a slight setback in the city, with power outages in Bakery Hill this week. While installing the devices, Powercor conducted network testing to ensure the technology would integrate with the existing power framework. A Powercor spokesperson said the testing enabled the company to identify what upgrades and changes were needed to make to support the RECFL.
"During this testing, a fault did occur on an underground cable at Bakery Hill and impacted power to more than 4000 customers," the spokesperson told The Courier.
"The outage occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with crews able to have customers progressively restored within a few hours."
One Bakery Hill resident told The Courier it was unfortunate timing for Powercor to be conducting the testing, with people unable to leave their homes due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"Basically there was an explosion on the pole outside our house," the resident said.
"Our neighbour saw a bright red flash of light and sparks. Another neighbour thought someone was stealing his motorbike, as it has the sound of a Harley starting.
"I was called at 12pm by Powercor and told not to touch anything metal inside the house, two minutes later they switched the power off remotely. For 24 hours before that we had ongoing brown outs: the lights and oven dimming, and our central heating switching off."
Powercor says it is discussing the issue with the resident, and dealing with a compensation claim for damages to an appliance.