By Leon Georgiou
AIMED at stopping possums from causing power outages, SA Power Networks has installed guards on power poles for about 100kms from near Millicent to Robe.
SA Power Networks Manager of Corporate Affairs, Paul Roberts said the electricity distributor was installing anti-climb guards on all 563 poles along its 33,000 volt line that runs from the Snuggery Substation through Millicent and onto Robe.
The project will cost around $380,000 and will prevent possums from climbing up power poles.
Manufactured and installed by Millicent based J&M Shanks General Engineering, the galvanised steel sheets sit about one metre off the ground and are approximately one metre in height.
J&M owner, John Shanks said there were around 15 different styles of guards that had to be designed and manufactured to accommodate the different power poles along the line.
“They’re all roughly just over a metre high and then it’s just all the width and depth measurements that change, depending on the size of the pole,” he said.
“And obviously, when there’s a service coming down the pole that goes on the ground, I’ve got cables that stick to the outside of them.
“And the poles have got other guards, so you have to accommodate those with the possum guards as well.”
Mr Roberts said the Snuggery substation supplied electricity to around 6,900 customers throughout the South East and that the interruptions from possums were common enough to warrant the project.
“The South East does have a large possum population, so outages caused by possums are more common in the South East than other parts of the state: other than the Adelaide Hills,” he said.
“As the length of the line from Snuggery right through to Robe is very long, we have had more possum related outages than other lines, hence the reason we are installing the guards on this line as a priority.”
Mr Shanks said there were a handful of poles left to fit with guards, and that the project would finish in about a week.
