http://www.news.com.au/news_content/state_content/4364808.htm

Link

Power firms blasted By SEAN STEVENSON 18dec99

A REPORT into the power blackout that affected about 150,000 people in southern Tasmania this month has revealed serious deficiencies in the equipment and procedures of the state's electricity companies.

The report by system controller Doug Clarke found that a design fault at the Chapel St sub-station at Glenorchy was the major cause of the outage, which hit power supplies for more than three hours on December 1.

Automatic protection devices overreacted to a short-circuit on the Gordon transmission line, setting off a chain-reaction which cut power to about 75,000 customers, including major commercial users such as Comalco, Fletcher Challenge Paper, Pasminco, Myer, the Wrest Point Hotel Casino and St John's Hospital.

The report was critical of the vegetation management of transmission company Transend Networks, which allowed a 220kV wire to come into contact with a tree 14km west of New Norfolk.

Mr Clarke also blasted electricity distributor Aurora Energy for failing to alert police and emergency services to the outage.

"As a consequence, the Police Action Plan for this type of emergency was not implemented until approximately 30 minutes after the supply interruption," he said.

Mr Clarke said, with the traffic control system on the Tasman Bridge down, the failure to communicate with police "created the environment for serious accidents and was a threat to public safety".

High-priority customers, including 150 chronic respiratory patients who rely on electricity for their oxygen generators, were also not notified by Aurora.

The electricity regulator Andrew Reeves said: "The issues highlighted must be addressed and I am seeking further reports from the electricity companies."

Aurora has launched a review into its communication procedures with police, emergency services and customers who rely on electricity for medical purposes.

Aurora's manager corporate affairs Adrian Wild said: "We acknowledge that we could have done better in these areas..."

Aurora has received 38 inquiries from customers seeking compensation for financial hardship as a result of the failure.

Nine claimants have followed up with official letters.

Aurora may also make its own claim against Transend for breaching its contract to supply power.

Transend chief executive Richard Bevan said: "If we have to make compensation payments to Aurora, then we will be negotiating those compensation payments with them."

Mr Bevan said the outage highlighted the heavy reliance on the Chapel St sub-station, and the lack of an alternative 220kV supply point into Hobart.

Plans were being developed for a second supply point, he said.

back

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

http://www.news.com.au/news_content/state_content/4365407.htm

L ink

Tassie bug alert for January 4 By MICHELLE PAINE 18dec99

JANUARY 4 is the date Y2K experts are really waiting for.

As the countdown to the millennium turnover quickens, Tasmania is jostling for "best prepared" spot in the event of Y2K chaos.

Yesterday the final public State Government Y2K report was released with a reassurance from Premier Jim Bacon that Tasmania is one of the safest places to be on New Year's Eve.

State Government Y2K project manager Peter Barnett said yesterday he would be on full alert right through until January 7  because making it through to January 1 might not be the end of his worries.

Mr Barnett said January 4 was when the vast majority of employees returned to work.

As the January 3 calendar page turns, Mr Barnett and a team of seven will be watching that more glitches and problems aren't caused than on January 1.

Mr Bacon yesterday confirmed all services required to report on their readiness had come out with an average 99.6% ready figure.

"On all the evidence available to Government, key services such as power, public hospitals, emergency services, transport, water and sewerage are Y2K ready," Mr Bacon said.

"My main concern now is to discourage any bad behaviour on the night and to ensure that the overwhelming majority of Tasmanians enjoy themselves."

Mr Bacon will be duty minister on New Year's Eve.

State Government agencies rated a 99.8% "ready" figure and a 99.4% "contingency planning" rate.

"Ready" means the service, to the best of its knowledge, is fully prepared for Y2K.

"Contingency planning" refers to how likely services are to succeed if systems that were "ready" failed.

Of the services listed below 100% in either category, many will have completed preparation before December 31, with the report only current to the end of November.

The Tasmanian Electricity Supply Industry, for example, rated the lowest, 94%, on contingency planning but expected to be ready by month's end.

Councils were required to report on the vital services of water and sewerage but a slightly lower figure did not mean they were worse off  just that they were reporting on non-vital services.

The Hobart City Council scored 100% on both figures.

Other councils averaged 99.3% for readiness and 97.4% for contingency plans.

back

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 17, 1999.