The Island’s electricity network has been strengthened in preparation for winter as part of a £145 million company-wide investment programme by Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution.
Local engineers, based at SEPD’s depot in Ryde have spent several months ramping up maintenance and refurbishment on key parts of the local electricity network to ensure the power equipment is ready should severe weather hit the south.
SEPD has undertaken a £72,000 programme of maintenance and upgrade on the local network in Cowes. This project included tree-cutting to minimise the risk of power cuts caused by trees coming into contact with overhead lines and they have also installed new technology on the local circuit to help reduce the length of time customers are without electricity during a rare power cut.
The programme to upgrade and maintain the network infrastructure is designed to improve the resilience of the network in central southern England. The investment ahead of this winter has gone into a range of programmes designed to reduce the number of power cuts during the winter months.
Investment across the network has been made in substations, stronger overhead wires, more robust underground cables, and hi-tech automated equipment to switch electricity supplies from another source if power is cut.
In rural areas, trees and overhanging vegetation presents particular challenges, especially during the stormy winter months, and SEPD has invested nearly £20million in cutting trees and branches that could come into contact with overhead lines, and cause a power cut.
One of the largest investments across the network has been in “smart fuse” technology. These devices detect faults – often caused by airborne debris flying into overhead lines – and if it is safe to do so, switch the power back on. Rather than wait for an engineer to drive to the fault site, carry out an investigation and then restore the supply, these smart fuses can get the power back on in a matter of minutes.
Director of Distribution, Stuart Hogarth, said:
“This new investment work in the area will mean our network is even more robust. If there is a power cut, supplies in these areas will be restored more quickly as a result of this investment.”
