Burying powerlines in Australia for an airstrip.

[Rosso Noche]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone on here has had experience with getting a quote for burying powerlines in Australia. I have approval to put an airstrip on my property in Queensland however to get the optimal direction and length I would like to place approx 150m of 3 strand power lines underground that run through part of my property. These aren’t property power lines, they are general power for the area so I’m guessing they’re reasonably high voltage. I don’t need to remove or relocate any poles, just the power lines between 2 poles. Any advice would be appreciated. I know it’s going to be expensive but am after some rough guidance before I go to energex so I can work out whether I am getting a genuine quote for the actual cost of the job, or a bugger off we don’t want to do it quote. PM me if you’d prefer to not put the information on this thread.

Thanks in advance.

Rosso.

[Checkboard]

As long as they're in the middle, you're fine - surely.

I mean, regardless of which direction you're landing - the 'planes on the ground at that point. :)

[mostlytossas]

You are joking aren't you? Never heard of go around, late touchdown etc? Now on to the subject matter........If there is just 3 conductors it is likely it is the HV supply to the area feeding a step down transformer along the route somewhere. Probably 11,000 volt but may be higher.
A good guide as to the voltage is have a look at the insulators on the poles. That's those grey things (usually) but can be black or clear. How many rings are they along the insulator? If only 3 then around the 11,000 volt is my guess. More is higher 110,000 volt will have 8 or 10 rings etc.
The higher the voltage the more it will cost to put them underground because a higher grade insulated cable will be required along with the ducting etc. I don't know what the rules are in your state but usually only the power network will carry out this work so your at their mercy as to the cost. My rough guess is at least $20,000 depending on what type of soil your dealing with . Rock, clay etc. The obvious thing to do is go and see them and ask for an estimate before you do anything.
Hope that helps. Good luck.

[Rosso Noche]

As long as they're in the middle, you're fine - surely.

I mean, regardless of which direction you're landing - the 'planes on the ground at that point. :)

Hi Checkboard,

This has been suggested to me before and I know others have done it. If I was to only fly my aircraft off the property I wouldn’t need that much runway and I have options for smaller strips which don’t require the lines to be buried. However, I figure if I’m going to put a strip in, it would be nice to have it as an asset that I can advertise if ever I decide to sell; and it would be great to have a longer strip with bigger margins for my own operation. Additionally it would also be nice for friends with lower performance aircraft to be able to safely fly in. The chance of someone dropping in (invited or otherwise) to a strip with lines across it is outside of my risk profile. I know the onus is on the PIC to ensure the ALA is satisfactory, but I’ve still got to live with myself if someone hurts (or worse) themselves on an airstrip I put in.

Cheers, Rosso.

[Rosso Noche]

You are joking aren't you? Never heard of go around, late touchdown etc? Now on to the subject matter........If there is just 3 conductors it is likely it is the HV supply to the area feeding a step down transformer along the route somewhere. Probably 11,000 volt but may be higher.
A good guide as to the voltage is have a look at the insulators on the poles. That's those grey things (usually) but can be black or clear. How many rings are they along the insulator? If only 3 then around the 11,000 volt is my guess. More is higher 110,000 volt will have 8 or 10 rings etc.
The higher the voltage the more it will cost to put them underground because a higher grade insulated cable will be required along with the ducting etc. I don't know what the rules are in your state but usually only the power network will carry out this work so your at their mercy as to the cost. My rough guess is at least $20,000 depending on what type of soil your dealing with . Rock, clay etc. The obvious thing to do is go and see them and ask for an estimate before you do anything.
Hope that helps. Good luck.

Thanks mostlytossas. I appreciate the helpful reply. I’ll go down to the paddock and check out the insulators. I know nothing about this sort of thing so I really appreciate the information before I contact the power company. I just didn’t want to walk into the conversation with them without having some idea of the process/cost. Cheers, Rosso.

[Capt Fathom]

My rough guess is at least $20,000

I think there is a zero missing there!

[Squawk7700]

A single line around 700 metres to a house underground is around $100,000 and that’s not for high voltage lines. Plus you have to stabilise the poles where it terminates and goes underground, so it may need to be a lot wider “gap” than anticipated.

[rjtjrt]

Rosso
When all quote in, can you let us know what sort of money they want?
It is something I have contemplated but not gone into as I assumed not in my priority list yet.

[Fieldmouse]

Dropping power requires a level 1 electrician. You should have a local one, he will sub out to the local authority. We got a quote for $96k to drop 150m.

[Rosso Noche]

Rosso
When all quote in, can you let us know what sort of money they want?
It is something I have contemplated but not gone into as I assumed not in my priority list yet.

Shall do. I’ve got a go/no go figure in my head of what costs would make it worthwhile. I suspect it is going to be a lot higher than I originally anticipated. I have a couple of options I’ll be asking for quotes on. Happy to share the rough price on the forum, and provide more detailed info via PM once I have it.

[Rosso Noche]

Dropping power requires a level 1 electrician. You should have a local one, he will sub out to the local authority. We got a quote for $96k to drop 150m.

Thanks fieldmouse. Very helpful info. That’s roughly where I thought we’d be at. Any more than that and it’s starts to get hard to justify the return on investment. Just curious, what state was that in?

[Rosso Noche]

Plus you have to stabilise the poles where it terminates and goes underground, so it may need to be a lot wider “gap” than anticipated.

Thanks Squawk. This has been a concern of mine and I’ll be interested to see what they propose as the options and costs for this. I figured it would involve some sort of wire bracing although there are poles around here that terminate without anything.

[machtuk]

You have approval for an airstrip? This is a gray area in some ways. I'd be keen to know why approval was required?

[Rosso Noche]

You have approval for an airstrip? This is a gray area in some ways. I'd be keen to know why approval was required?

Hi machtuk.

I should have chosen my words more carefully. My LGA doesn’t require approval for an airstrip as such. I have been in touch with council and provided it is not used for commercial purposes or require earthworks greater than 400mm then no official approval is required and council have no objection to its use. I also specifically enquired about requirements such as noise and again provided it is for private use it is no different to operating a car to/from, or machinery on, my property.

Cheers, Rosso.

[Glevum]

A friend of mine had the same problem in the UK.

He was told by a mate who worked for the power company to tell them the wayleave for the power cables crossing his property had expired and could they kindly remove them.

The cables were buried for free pretty promptly.

I don't know if you have the same system of wayleaves in Oz, but it might be worth trying.

[nonsense]

Does the line need to go underground, or does it just need to get from one side of your proposed runway to the other without passing over it?
After all, "under" is not the only way which is not "over", a longer above ground route on poles "around" might be much cheaper?

[Deltasierra010]

A friend of mine had the same problem in the UK.

He was told by a mate who worked for the power company to tell them the wayleave for the power cables crossing his property had expired and could they kindly remove them.

The cables were buried for free pretty promptly.

I don't know if you have the same system of wayleaves in Oz, but it might be worth trying.


It’s surprising what you can get done with a little leverage, the real cost of putting cable U/G in open ground even HV is quite low, but they charge what they can get and make a nice profit along the way

[Rosso Noche]

Does the line need to go underground, or does it just need to get from one side of your proposed runway to the other without passing over it?
After all, "under" is not the only way which is not "over", a longer above ground route on poles "around" might be much cheaper?

Unfortunately the only option here is to go underground. Due to the location of the powerlines and some natural features re-routing it will cause a large diversion which I doubt would be cheaper or even possible given the layout.

[Rosso Noche]

It’s surprising what you can get done with a little leverage, the real cost of putting cable U/G in open ground even HV is quite low, but they charge what they can get and make a nice profit along the way

Thanks Delta. Yeah the section I want buried is open even ground. I’m concerned I will get price gouged simply because I’m a captive audience and the job won’t be a high priority for them.

[lurker999]

https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/safety-and-emergencies/powerline-bushfire-safety-program/Reports-and-regulations/pb-report-indicative-costs-for-replacing-swer-lines

The exec summary puts the cost of HV power underground at $168K / km. So start at about 40K I’d reckon and work up from there.

Also. The electricity poles will 99% likely be on an easement (look at your title) in which case this stuff about wayleaves in the UK is meaningless. And good luck fighting it in court even if it isn’t listed. https://elringtons.com.au/2011/08/easements-for-dummies/

[mickjoebill]

Investigate local and state subsidies and grants related to:

community emergency response
hardening infrastructure
bushfire mitigation
solar farm

There may be a state or federal business or community grants available.
Some grants not well advertised and have low numbers of applications.
Be creative, how valuable would the strip be to the community?
Is the strip likely to become a small business park and support other businesses? Would the power need to be upgraded anyway to accommodate this?
Is the existing service fit for purpose , will it need to be upgraded (transformers) in the future?

Also, when I last investigated, in Australia the power distribution companies are able to get a guaranteed return on the investment they make in building distribution infrastructure.
The standing charge to consumers is based on infrastructure and the govt allows a 9%(?) return on this infrastructure. So it is a licence to print money, borrow at 3% and get a 9% return.
We had a powerline drilled across our road for no charge as I made a case that it would mitigate the bushfire threat, as we are in a court, in a high risk area. The carefully worded letter got the response, drill team, cherry picker, linesmen, back hoe, water jet machine, traffic controllers (ha rural dead end street!)) and manager turned up. 10am to 3pm. They upgraded the line to 3 phase as well. Removing overhead lines to mitigate bushfires was acceptable so they could add it to their standing charge tally for the year. (Victoria 2013)

Had a day job aerial line inspection, it was fascinating to be following a line only to have it disappear underground, sure enough, a rich buggers home was nearby with an uninterrupted view.

Grants finder, great fun for everyone:)
https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs
https://australiangrants.org/?gclid=CjwKCAjwr_uCBhAFEiwAX8YJgUD7F2r1_xT1RLDEf6thPbv9FoOLi cNjpGdu7lp9Lfau1hvokwbFzhoC8XwQAvD_BwE


Mjb