To meet rising demand in the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas, we have progressed with the Western 500kV Project, the largest project ever undertaken by TransGrid.
The project focuses on operating the western backbone of the core NSW transmission network at 500kV rather than 330kV to take advantage of the useful capacity of all the transmission lines that supply the Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong load centres. The Western 500kV is the result of planning and development by TransGrid over the past 30 years.
The Western 500kV project includes the following works:
- Construction of a 500kV switchyards at Bayswater and Mt Piper;
- Construction new 500/330kV Substations at Bannaby and Wollar; and
Upgrading 330kV equipment at Wallerawang 330kV switching station.
2009 represents a milestone with Bayswater Substation being finished during January and the upgrading of Wallerawang and Mt Piper switchyards finished during March. The first of the two 500kV lines between Bayswater and Mt Piper power stations has also been placed in service.
The second milestone for the project was achieved in June 2009 when Macquarie Generation finished the installation of the 500kV generator transformers and began generation into the 500kV system.
The Western 500kV project is an impressive project from a design, environmental and stakeholder perspective. An important part of the project is the design and supply of seven banks of three single phase 1500MVA 500/330kV transformers, a total of 21 units by Toshiba Japan. Eighteen of these units were shipped from Japan to Newcastle and then by heavy haulage road transporters to Bayswater, Mt Piper and Bannaby. The last three units, for Wollar, are due towards the end of 2009.
Major upgrades were made to the community during the building of the project. For example, in building Bannaby Substation, we invested $1.5 million into building a road linking Taralga with our new substation at Bannaby.
Project updates
| Energising the Western 500kV Project |
December 2009 |
 PDF |
| Regulatory Test Analysis |
September 2006 |
PDF |
| Application Notice |
May 2006 |
PDF |
| 500kV Upgrade: Preliminary Regulatory Test Analysis |
May 2006 |
PDF |