Underground power rolls out in Darwin

Nakara, Wagaman and Larrakeyah are set to be the first of Darwin’s northern suburbs to have their high-voltage overhead infrastructure powerlines undergrounded.

The rollout is part of the NT Government’s $60 million investment over six years (2022–2028) to underground Darwin’s power network.

Thirteen Darwin suburbs will receive underground power in the following order: Nakara, Wagaman, Alawa, Larrakeyah, The Narrows, Fannie Bay, Moil, Jingili, Stuart Park, Coconut Grove, Ludmilla, Parap and The Gardens.

The project will commence with works at Nakara in 2023; works on the final suburbs of Parap and The Gardens are scheduled to commence in 2026–2027. The order of suburbs was decided based on the weighted criteria of outage duration, population density and constructability.

To date, concept designs have been finalised and procurement action has commenced for designs for Nakara, Wagaman, Larrakeyah and Alawa.

“Delivering underground power to Darwin’s northern suburbs is important work that will deliver more reliable and safer electricity to residents, schools and the many businesses in the area,” said Member for Casuarina Lauren Moss.

“I’m very pleased to see designs completed with the rollout of underground power in the suburbs of Nakara, Wagaman and Alawa imminent.”

The projected rollout in Darwin’s northern suburbs follows the completion of underground power at eight schools in Darwin, with civil works at the ninth school, St John’s College, due to start this month.

The schools with underground power complete are Wagaman Primary School, Nemarluk Special School, Alawa Primary School, Larrakeyah Primary School, Moil Primary School, Jingili Primary School, Parap Primary School and Stuart Park Primary School.

“The Territory Labor government is investing in safer and more reliable electricity across Darwin because we know underground powerlines suffer fewer weather- or vegetation-related outages. Maintaining underground power also costs less and this will have a long-term positive effect,” said Minister for Essential Services Selena Uibo.

“The works completed at eight Darwin schools have provided added security and reliability of power supply with the network being more resilient to extreme weather and electrical storms.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Sandla