The State Government’s $6 million upgrade of the power network between the mainland and Southern Moreton Bay Islands is now well underway and about to reach a major project milestone.
Peter Dowling, Member for Redlands, has advised The Friendly Bay Islander exclusively that in the coming weeks engineers will begin stringing 47km of optical fibre communication cables between Beenleigh, Russell Island and North Stradbroke Island that will assist Energex crews to monitor and control the local power grid in real time.
“This is great news for the Southern Moreton Bay Islands in particular because the massive upgrade will allow Energex technicians to control the islands’ power network without always having to wait for crews to arrive from the mainland,” Mr Dowling said.
“This will save a lot of time and most importantly will allow Energex to remotely switch the 110,000 volt grid enabling them to restore power much faster to more than 6000 customers if storm damage or similar unexpected issues interrupt supply to the Southern Moreton Bay Islands.
“The upgrades will also work in tandem with the new multimillion dollar Russell Island substation which now services the needs of Russell, Macleay, Karragarra and Lamb Islands.”
Work on the project is expected to be completed late this year weather permitting.
Mr Dowling said the upgrades were just one of many major commitments by the State Government to deliver better planning and infrastructure to the Redlands.
“In the current budget the State Government has committed $1.8 million to upgrade the Russell Island ambulance station, $6.8 million for Victoria Point’s new bus station and jetty and a new pontoon for the Redland Bay Water Police,” the Member for Redlands said.