{"id":680109,"date":"2026-05-19T05:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680109\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T05:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:09:11","slug":"sa-power-networks-10-million-plan-to-combat-insulator-pollution-linked-to-regional-summer-power-outages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680109\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Power Networks’ $10 million plan to combat insulator pollution linked to regional summer power outages"},"content":{"rendered":"

SA Power Networks will spend up to $10 million to address insulator pollution following repeated power outages across regional South Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the authority, pollution issues emerged as a reliability challenge in late 2024, before worsening last summer.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The SA Power Networks map on March 14, 2025. (Supplied: SA Power Networks)<\/p>\n

Cecilia Schutz from SA Power Networks said it was the department’s highest priority project.<\/p>\n

More than 25,000 hours of work will need to be completed by the roughly 50 workers rotating on and off over the next six months.<\/p>\n

“This represents one of our biggest workforce mobilisations ever,” she said.<\/p>\n

Prolonged dry conditions allow dust, salt and other contaminants to settle on insulators.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

SA Power Networks hoses down polluted insulators (Supplied: SA Power Networks)<\/p>\n

When combined with light moisture, a flashover event can occur and create a power outage.<\/p>\n

These repeated events can cause the insulators to deteriorate, compounding the problem.<\/p>\n

Works will begin in July and will see 10,000 insulators replaced across 33 powerlines.<\/p>\n

As part of the works, 15 high-voltage automation switches will also be installed.<\/p>\n

It means during outages, SA Power Networks will be able to isolate the outage to a “more specific area” during restoration works.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cecilia Schutz says a majority of the works will occur on the Yorke Peninsula. (ABC News: Marco Catalano)<\/p>\n

Ms Schutz said the authority was focused on completing a significant portion of the works before summer and the climatic conditions that exacerbated the pollution issues over the past two summers.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to be replacing around sort of 7,500 insulators with a silicon insulator,” she said.<\/p>\n

“In really high-risk coastal areas, we’re going to be replacing them with a much higher \u2026 more robust porcelain insulator.”<\/p>\n

The majority of the works will centre around the Yorke Peninsula with other replacements occurring on Eyre Peninsula and on the Limestone Coast.<\/p>\n

More news from regional SA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SA Power Networks will spend up to $10 million to address insulator pollution following repeated power outages across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,38664,231830],"class_list":["post-680109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-power-outages","tag-sa-power-networks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}