Largest substation in southern hemisphere finished for major new transmission link

Construction of the largest and most complex substation in the Southern Hemisphere has been completed in south west New South Wales, part of Project EnergyConnect, the new transmission line linking South Australia, the country’s most advanced renewable energy state, to NSW, with the biggest coal fleet.

The Buronga substation will act as the main hub for Project EnergyConnect’s connection between NSW, Victoria, and South Australia and will anchor the new 900-kilometre transmission line to connect the energy grids of all three states.

“EnergyConnect is critical to improving the reliability and security of the National Electricity Market as coal-fired power stations retire, with interconnections to boost energy sharing between NSW, South Australia and Victoria,” said Gordon Taylor, executive general manager of major projects for Transgrid.

The substation has been steadily energised over the past four weeks, with the final section completed last week. Once the final 540km section of the EnergyConnect transmission line is completed between Buronga and Wagga Wagga, it will increase capacity at the substation from 150 megawatts (MW) to 800 MW.

Taylor says the Buronga substation is the first in the world to boast five phase-shifting transformers running in parallel, which provides improved load sharing, increased grid stability, enhanced transmission capacity, and reduced congestion.

“(It) is a true feat in design, engineering, construction, and commissioning,” he said.

The substation covers 15 hectares – equivalent to 21 soccer fields – and comprises 24,000-cubic-metres of concrete and a host of sophisticated electrical equipment included synchronous condensers, phaseshifting transformers, shunt reactors, step down transformers, power transformers, and capacitor banks.