After a spate of bushfires, a Western Australian regional electrical network is replacing overhead lines in fire-prone regions with off-grid solar and battery systems, or microgrids.
In the first weekend of February, four emergency-level fires struck regional WA destroying homes, livestock, and vulnerable native bushland.
Two of those fires started on overhead powerlines.
In one of those fires near Wickepin, 220 kilometres south-east of Perth, it took only three minutes for Michael Lange's piggery to be engulfed in flame, killing thousands of pigs in their pens.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services investigated the Wickepin fire and found it was started by clashing power conductors, destroying two homes and 18,000 hectares of farms and native bushland.
"It was an electrical issue that could've well and truly been avoided," Mr Lange said.
Network operator Western Power has replaced over 50km of burned lines with standalone solar, generator, and battery systems, accelerating its long-term plan to reduce regional WA's reliance on overhead lines.
"We're planning to install about 1,000 [standalone power systems] over the next four years, extending to 4,000 over a ten year period," acting asset operations executive Zane Christmas said.
Regions 'uniquely vulnerable'
Mr Christmas acknowledged that the Wickepin fire was started on Western Power's powerlines, but said its regional lines were appropriately maintained with over $200 million of bushfire mitigation work annually.
"We do a lot of inspection. We have a very big vegetation cutting program. We address any defects in extreme-risk locations in the aim of having those cleared by December [each year]," he said.
Much of southern WA was hit by strong winds and high temperatures on the weekend of the four fire emergencies, and 10 districts had "catastrophic" fire warnings which a DFES spokesperson said was "incredibly rare".
In such conditions, Mr Christmas acknowledges overhead lines are vulnerable even if adequately maintained.
"Things like extreme weather can cause those conductors to sag a little bit and this can be the consequence. It's really a number of factors coming together," he said.
Dr Elizabeth Ratnam, a future engineering research fellow at ANU and former systems planning engineer at Ausgrid, said the size of Australia's overhead line networks mean the regions are uniquely vulnerable to powerline fires.
"It was a big concern [when I worked at Ausgrid] and it still is. Bushfires are increasing in severity," she said.
Power to the people
Dr Ratnam said embracing new technologies to create microgrids was among the best ways to reduce this risk and prevent fires.
That is what Western Power has pledged to do with its standalone solar, generator, and battery systems.
In February, the Australian Energy Market Commission changed its rules to allow standalone power systems to be installed in the National Electricity Market — the interconnected electricity system which covers all states and territories except WA and the Northern Territory.
"The power infrastructure that connects communities to the grid can also cause bushfires, which is another reason standalone power systems are attractive alternatives to traditional network connections in those areas."
Rebuilding Wickepin
In the two months since the fire, volunteers from across WA and interstate have flocked to help rebuild essential infrastructure.
After three days without sleep, Mr Lange was flooded with offers for help from local volunteers who transformed the burned pig pens.
"If we'd done it ourselves it would've taken six or eight months."
In the nearby town of Narrogin, a team of volunteers for BlazeAid have set up camp, expecting to spend three or four months repairing fences on farms full-time.
In addition to the burned pigs, the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development estimated 2,200 sheep were killed in the Wickepin fire.
The hundreds of kilometres of fencing is essential to being able to restock the thousands of sheep displaced from those farms.
