Upgrade works begin at Waikiki substation to help improve power reliability

An upgrade of Waikiki's substation is underway as part of a $10.4 million investment by Western Power to help improve power reliability.

The upgrade is one of eight at substations across the state following the unprecedented load conditions during the Christmas 2021 heatwave.

Three substation upgrades at Clarkson, Byford and Yanchep have been completed with reinforcement work being done to mitigate capacity overloads.

Work will soon start at the Waikiki substation, which is an important power supply in the southern area.

Other works planned include installing new feeders at Mandurah, Byford, Waikiki and Henley Brook substations and installing a new cable and changes to configuration at Yanchep.

"Western Power's network experienced unprecedented load conditions during Christmas last year, which resulted in outages that impacted around 107,000 households and businesses," Energy Minister Bill Johnston said.

"The outages occurred during record-breaking temperatures - meaning there was an abnormally high use of air conditioners and fans, which put pressure on the network.

"Following the heatwave and in line with recommendations from the independent review into the Christmas power outages, Western Power has mitigated any risks and accelerated works prior to the coming summer season.

"A thorough review has been undertaken looking at the most impacted locations, based on  customer numbers and outage times in the cities of Swan, Mandurah, Wanneroo, Armadale and Gosnells."