ActewAGL Distribution Asset Management

Electricity Network Asset Strategy and Planning Branch

ActewAGL Distribution, owns, develops, operates and maintains the electricity transmission and distributioninfrastructure in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding region. ActewAGL employeesare based in Canberra – Australia’s capital city.Attributes of the ActewAGL electricity network include:

  • Coverage area - 2358 square km
  • Customers connected-approx 170,000
  • Overhead lines - 3100km
  • Underground cables - 4400km
  • Power poles- 53,000
  • Zone substations-14
  • Distribution substations > 4400 (ground padmounts and chambers)
  • Operating voltages 132/22/11kV and 415/240v
  • Peak Demand approx 620MW

ActewAGL’s Asset Strategy and Planning team (ASP team) was established in 2011 as a major Branch in the Asset Management Division. Through ourcombined knowledge skills and experience our mission is to provide a centre of excellence that demonstrates innovative and robust planning and effective asset performance leadership. A key strategy is to continue and build upon a well planned and executed infrastructure replacement program based on PAS 55 methodology and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) that controls costs while meeting customer and community reliability expectations.

The ASP team is involved with long term (5-20 year) network modelling and investment planning and electricity demand forecasting, monitoring network asset reliability performance, asset failure analysis, developing replacement, refurbishment and maintenance policy and programs, network augmentation option studies and business case analysis, network concept design and planning approvals, system protection schemes and SCADA design and implementation.

Current major programs of work include moderisation and development of new zone substations, transmission and high voltage distribution line augmentations and installation of the latest distribution automation and management system technologies to monitor and control the network.

Broadly the ASP team contains five key strategic functional areas:

Asset Strategy: Long term 5-20 year planning and capital investment,demand forecasting and development of the overall Asset Management Strategic Plan

Network Augmentation: High Voltage network augmentation and capacity planning and approvals

Network Performance: OH and UG network maintenance policy, performance and reliability improvement programs

Zone Substation Planning and Performance: Planning, design, maintenance policy and performance improvement programs

Secondary Systems - Protection and Real Time Systems (SCADA): Planning, design, implementation and system performance monitoring and improvement programs

Dennis Stanley - February 2012