MP ASKS BURNING QUESTION
Western Victoria Region MP Bev McArthur yesterday used a debate in parliament to support a local Geelong manufacturer whose innovative product can address the problem of power pole fires across Western Victoria Region.
Mrs McArthur recounted her visit to Dulhuntly Poles in Moolap, whose cement and fibre-glass based product has huge advantages in weight, longevity and operational costs, when compared to wooden poles currently in use.
She said: “Western Victoria Region has fallen victim to fires caused by faulty power poles in recent years, most notably the St Patrick’s Day fires in 2018, which resulted in the loss of 23 houses, 40 000 hectares of land and 10 000 head of livestock.” “The poles currently in use by energy distribution network provider Powercor are either old, past their use-by-date or new, softwood, treated pine poles, built to last just seven years, susceptible to fire and weather damage and proven unsafe.”
She also noted the cost of replacement, and the timescale involved: “ At the current rate at which Powercor is replacing these unsafe poles, it would take 259 years to replace them all. Two weeks ago in the Geelong CBD yet another one of these power poles caught fire and left hundreds of properties temporarily without power, including the Geelong Magistrates Court.”
Mrs McArthur questioned why Powercor have to date failed to engage with the company, despite the higher quality and utility of their product, its lower long-term capital and operational cost, and its use by power infrastructure providers elsewhere in Australia and the world.
“Recently I visited Dulhunty Poles, a cement pole manufacturer in Geelong, who have tried to obtain a contract with Powercor but were rejected. Dulhunty Poles produce fireproof, termite-proof, waterproof, weatherproof, rustproof, lightweight, electrically non-conductive, composite poles made from cement, clay and fibreglass that last more than 70 years.”
Addressing a potential criticism she noted: “Dulhunty Poles are considerably more expensive, but this long-term investment would surely be a no-brainer. These cement poles are astronomically safer, they last more than seven times longer than the current wooden poles and are already used by AusNet Services in eastern Victoria, by Ausgrid in Sydney and Newcastle, by TasNetworks in Tasmania and are even exported to Tahiti and New Zealand.”
“The current poles used by Powercor are clearly unsafe, unsustainable and impossible to replace at the rate they expire. The action I seek from the minister is that she ensures Powercor contracts Dulhunty Poles to produce cement poles for Western Victoria Region or to find an energy distribution network provider that will.”
16 October 2019