Almost 30,000 homes and businesses across South Australia are sweltering through the heat with no power.
A widespread blackout is affecting the entire Yorke Peninsula and parts of the Mid North – caused by a build up of salt and dust over the extended dry period.
“Insulator pollution” has been causing intermittent power outages on the Yorke Peninsula for several weeks, with SA Power Network switching off sections of power at night to wash the highest risk insulators.
Today, customers are relying on the owner of the transmission network, ElectraNet, to get power restored. A spokesperson for ElectraNet said work was underway to fix the damage, and “at this stage it is anticipated that power will be restored by late afternoon”.
“Extended dry conditions in the region has seen a larger than usual dust and salt build-up which has affected the network. ElectraNet constantly monitors the network to track this and respond accordingly. A planned outage was scheduled for early Sunday morning to address this issue by de-energising the Hummocks substation to perform the necessary maintenance. Unfortunately the network experienced multiple trips this morning as a result of the dust and salt build up, which has resulted in some damage at the Hummocks substation. While the substation is de-energised and the damage is being repaired, the planned maintenance will be undertaken, negating the need for the Sunday morning outage.”
According to SA Power Network, any underlying faults on their network will not be able to be identified until the transmission network is restored.
