Powercor and Safegrid Fault Location Trial

Background

Powercor Australia is Victoria’s largest electricity distributor, managing power lines, poles and substations across Melbourne’s western suburbs and central and western Victoria.

As part of its network operations, Powercor manages extensive rural distribution networks where long feeder distances and remote locations can make fault response more challenging.

To explore ways to improve fault location and support faster fault response, Powercor initiated a trial of Safegrid’s fault location technology in the Macedon Ranges, covering two rural feeders supplied from the Gisborne and Woodend zone substations.

Challenge

Faults on long rural feeders can be difficult to locate. When a fault occurs, crews need to identify the likely fault location and travel to the site to inspect the network.

The longer and more remote the feeder, the greater the area crews may need to search. This can increase restoration times and the resources required to locate and repair faults.

Powercor was looking for a way to improve the speed and accuracy of fault location on its rural 22 kV network.

Solution

Safegrid’s fault location technology uses sensors installed along the network to detect the travelling waves created when a fault occurs.

The sensors capture the fault event and send GPS-timed data to Safegrid’s GridGuardian cloud platform. The platform analyses the data from the network and uses it to pinpoint the likely fault location on a map.

For the trial, Safegrid sensors are being deployed across two rural feeders in the Macedon Ranges. Insulect is supporting the project as Safegrid’s Australian representative, coordinating with Powercor and Safegrid during the deployment.

Benefits

The trial is designed to help Powercor:

• Locate faults more quickly on long rural feeders
• Narrow down the search area for field crews
• Reduce the time spent patrolling network assets to identify faults
• Improve visibility of fault locations using GPS-timed network data
• Support faster decision-making during fault response and restoration
• Gain practical experience with travelling-wave fault location technology on a rural distribution network

Results

The trial is currently underway, so final performance results are not yet available.

The first installation was completed on 9 November 2026, with Safegrid specialists on site to support the deployment. Following the first installation, a further 60 units are planned for installation across the two feeders, targeted for completion by the end of 2026.

Once the trial is complete, the results will provide Powercor with practical insight into how travelling-wave fault location technology can support fault response across long rural feeders and its potential application more broadly across the distribution network.