Construction work completed on Sydney CBD cable project

3 July, 2020

Construction work has wrapped up on a major project to improve the safety and reliability of infrastructure supplying electricity to the Sydney CBD.

Motorists and pedestrians won’t notice the new cables beneath the ground, but they will be a key part of powering the heart of Sydney for years to come.

The work is part of a wider project to retire Ausgrid’s City East substation, near the Domain car park, which was built in the 1960s and has reached the end of its working life.

Before the substation can be retired new 11,000-volt underground cables had to be installed to transfer load to the Belmore Park substation in the southern CBD.

The work involved digging 1.8 kilometres of trench in the Sydney CBD along Macquarie Street, College Street and Wentworth Avenue and installing new joint bays underneath the roadway.

Construction began in August 2018 in conjunction with our contractor partner Diona and the project has been delivered on time and on budget.

Much of the work was done on weekends and in holidays to minimise the disruption to traffic and businesses and residents in the CBD.

Being in the heart of the city meant teams had to work closely with a range of stakeholders including Sydney Coordination Office, Sydney Transport and NSW Police.
 
With construction work complete Ausgrid is working to complete electrical work to allow the City East substation to be retired.