Grid infrastructure incidents recorded in Australia, with what happened, the contributing factors and the lessons, each with its sources.
20 published entries. Newest first. Search and filter these in the register.
Newest incident first. Search them, or narrow them by country, year or severity. Each entry is free to read, with what happened and its sources; the record behind it adds the cause where it is established, the part that failed, the downtime and the loss.
An early-morning fire broke out at Ausgrid's Mason Park substation in Homebush, Sydney, just after 2.15am. Fire and Rescue NSW initially sent eight fire trucks and 26 firefighters to the Homebush Bay Drive facility, where a coil tower was found well alight....
Vandals are reported to have set fire to a mattress placed next to an electrical substation at Rocherlea, in northern Tasmania, on a Sunday afternoon. The fire caused extensive damage to the substation and left approximately 1500 customers in Launceston's...
A high-voltage electrical transformer at a roadside kiosk on Bannockburn Road, Turramurra, in Sydney's north, caught fire and exploded, with flames spreading towards an adjoining power pole and overhead wires. Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended and found...
The record behind each entry: the manufacturer, integrator and operator, root cause, failure mode, downtime, losses and every source.
Late on 25 October 2024, an intruder reportedly broke into the electrical substation on Main Road, Heddon Greta, and took copper cabling. The theft is alleged to have triggered an explosion that caused serious damage to the facility, which is described as...
Just after 8pm on Saturday, a bright green flash and two bangs were reported at two power transformer stations around Trevallyn in Launceston. Power was cut to much of the city's west, including Trevallyn, Riverside and parts of the CBD and Kings Meadows....
On 11 December 2023 Adelaide Now reported a substation explosion in stormy weather and described the cause as a mystery. The story address refers to footage of an explosion after a lightning strike in Torrensville. The article text was not available, so it is...
Police say a man caused an explosion at Fawkner Street substation in Melbourne CBD while attempting to steal copper. Only a headline and short summary are available. Injuries, the extent of damage, and any effect on supply were not reported.
A fire broke out at an electrical substation on Canyonleigh Road near Brayton, New South Wales, producing a large cloud of black smoke. Rural Fire Service crews from the Southern Tablelands and Southern Highlands arrived at about 10am on Sunday 9 October...
A food delivery drone operated by Wing came to rest on overhead power lines in Brisbane and caught fire. Energex said the drone landed on an 11,000-volt line and did not immediately take out power, but that voltage tracked across the drone, which then caught...
Around 3pm on a Saturday in June 2022 one of four transformers at the Yallah substation in Yallah, New South Wales, Australia failed, causing multiple explosions and an oil fire. The blaze completely destroyed the unit and damaged surrounding infrastructure....
A news report dated 5 January 2022 described a large blaze at a substation at Gould Creek in South Australia, and said the damage bill ran into the millions. The full article could not be read, so the equipment involved, the cause, any injuries and any effect...
A fire broke out at the Transgrid substation in Dapto, south of Wollongong, New South Wales, at about 3pm on 18 July, sending large black plumes of smoke into the air. Video of the fire was captured on the Princes Highway at Dapto. The report does not state...
On Thursday 17 December 2020 there was a transformer incident at Unit 3 of AGL's Liddell Power Station in New South Wales. A worker was seriously injured and was receiving medical attention. The unit was taken out of service. AGL said an investigation was...
A fire broke out in the cable basement of the Hornsby power substation on Sydney's upper north shore just before midday on 13 February 2019, according to energy distributor Ausgrid. Smoke was reported coming out of the substation. About 26,000 properties...
Local reporting on 25 October 2017 said firefighters responded to a fire at a substation in Thebarton, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, described as a large fire. Only the headline of the report was available to the register, so the cause, the extent of...
Just before 8:00am on 29 August 2017, an explosion at the Berrimah substation in Darwin injured a Power and Water Corporation worker, who was taken to hospital with minor burns and was reported to be in a stable condition. The blast shut the whole substation...
A fire broke out at about 3pm on a Monday at an electrical substation in Matraville, in Sydney's east, sending large plumes of thick black smoke over nearby suburbs. Around 20 people from a nearby block of units were evacuated while firecrews attended and...
On 3 March 2017 a voltage transformer exploded and caught fire in a switching yard at Torrens Island, in Adelaide's north-west suburbs, South Australia. The explosion tripped generators at the Torrens Island and Pelican Point gas-fired power stations,...
An explosion at the Blaxland Zone Substation in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, produced smoke but no fire and left more than 5,500 residents without power during heat of about 40 degrees Celsius. It was the second incident at the same substation within...
A published headline reported a South Australia blackout involving three towers, six wind farms and a span of 12 seconds. The available source is a headline only, so it is not confirmed whether the towers failed, how the wind farms were involved, or how wide...
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