Power upgrade for Iluka | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers

Marsha Neville | 28th November 2009

Coe Drilling superintendent Jason Coe, Country Energy Far North Coast regional general manager Richard Wake and Country Energy project manager Mike Maloney at Hickey Island, where drilling has begun to install high-voltage power cables under the Clarence River between Yamba and Iluka.

AN underwater bore beneath the Clarence River is less than 250 metres away from its goal – to make way for a direct route for Iluka’s electricity supply from Yamba.

The operation will ensure that Iluka’s growth never exceeds its capacity for a reliable power supply, as it will draw on high-voltage power cables relocated under the Clarence waterway.

The plan to do away with the 30-kilometre journey from the Maclean Country Energy substation to the village of Iluka via overhead power lines has been in the pipeline for more than three years.

It follows extensive engineering studies, test bores and consultation with NSW Maritime and local lands councils.

It involves the largest under-boring ever carried out in the region.

The result will be a more reliable and secure power source for the village of Iluka, and greater capacity to meet future demand as the Clarence Valley population grows.

A 1.4-kilometre passage between Hickey Island and Iluka Bay will be followed by another 1.4- kilometre underground drill to the Yamba substation on Angourie Road, where upgrades have been made to cater for the new feeder.

Iluka’s electricity supply will then come from the Yamba zone substation by the shortest route possible.

It will effectively put the high-voltage cables ‘out of harm’s way’.

The overhead lines that service Iluka run through a large section of bushland, making trees and fruit bats hazardous for the exposed lines.

Drilling superintendent Jason Coe, of Coe Drilling, said the degree of difficulty in this project was high due to the protection of the Dirrangun reef site that lies at the bottom of the Clarence.

It had been the focus of a Yaegl native land title claim since 1996.

“There’s a compound curve that we have to factor into the route,” Mr Coe said.

The 70-tonne directional drill rig is the largest in the southern hemisphere, according to Mr Coe.

It has been drilling 24 hours a day since Monday.

Drilling to depths of up to 50 metres through soft coffee rock and silty clay, once it reaches Iluka, the drill will be back reamed and turned around to start again on the Yamba leg of the journey.

Two conduits will be placed in the newly drilled channels, one for the two cables already in use and the other will be kept spare for future electricity demands on Iluka.

The $4.6 million project is set for completion early next year.

• Daily newspapers
• Bundaberg News-Mail
• Coffs Coast Advocate
• Fraser Coast Chronicle
• Gladstone Observer
• Grafton Daily Examiner
• Gympie Times
• Ipswich Queensland Times
• Lismore Northern Star
• Mackay Daily Mercury
• Rockhampton Morning Bulletin
• Sunshine Coast Daily
• Toowoomba Chronicle
• Tweed Daily News
• Warwick Daily News
• Community newspapers
• Ballina Shire Advocate
• Biloela Central Telegraph
• Byron Shire News
• Coolum & North Shore News
• East-Ipswich Satellite
• Emerald Central Queensland News
• Gatton Star
• Gold Coast Mail
• Ipswich Advertiser
• Logan Reporter
• Noosa News
• The Northern Rivers Echo
• Whitsunday Times
• Other publications
• Surat Basin News