Lidcombe to Sydney Olympic Park cable project

Some of the electrical equipment at our substation in Carter Street in Lidcombe is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be taken out of service to improve reliability and minimise ongoing maintenance costs.

Before this can happen, the associated power supply would need to be transferred to our Olympic Park substation on the corner of Australia Avenue and Bennelong Parkway in Sydney Olympic Park. 

There are a number of considerations to factor in while planning cable routes. These include:

• cost (minimising the impact on electricity bills)
• minimising community and traffic impacts
• avoiding existing utility services in roads
• ground conditions
• environmental and heritage impacts
• public health and safety
• technical feasibility.

Ausgrid is the approving authority for these works under the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act. As part of the approval process, we have prepared an environmental assessment for this project to investigate the potential environmental impacts associated with construction, operation and maintenance of the new cables.

Pre-construction activities began in early October 2018 and involve site investigations at various locations along the cable route to confirm the location of existing underground utility services and assess ground conditions. Ausgrid has engaged Lendlease as the construction contractor.

Trenching to install the conduits that will house the new electricity cables will start in late-November 2018 and continue for about five months. The cable installation work will follow the conduit installation. Work to join sections of cable together and transfer the power supply from the substation in Lidcombe to the substation at Sydney Olympic Park will extend into late 2019.

Ausgrid began engaging with the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the City of Parramatta Council about the project in late 2017.

Engagement with residents and businesses located along and around the cable route started in April 2018 with the distribution of the first newsletter about the project. A second newsletter about the approval of the project and the start of construction was distributed in late November 2018. A copy of the newsletters can be found in the related documents section below.

We will continue to engage with the community and stakeholders during each stage of the project. Ausgrid welcomes questions or comments about the project at any time (see project contacts top right). Community feedback assists us to identify all potential issues and address them in our construction plans to minimise impacts.

This project involves installing new cables in streets in Lidcombe and Sydney Olympic Park via trenching in roads and footpaths. In some locations, the cables will be installed into existing conduits.
As with any construction work, there will be some noise and dust, and temporary traffic impacts but we will make every effort to keep these to a minimum.

Construction will involve:

• digging trenches, approximately 1 metre wide, to lay conduits (plastic pipes) to hold the new cables
• filling trenches and resurfacing the area temporarily
• excavating underground joint pits and communication pits at various locations along the route to feed in and join sections of cables together
• Permanently restoring of all impacted areas.
  
  

Generally, restoration work is done in two stages:

• Excavated sections of road are refilled immediately and temporarily resurfaced to allow normal use by traffic.
• Final restoration would be completed in consultation with the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the City of Parramatta Council either as sections of work are completed or once the overall project is finished.

Any potential impacts associated with this work have been assessed as part of the project's environmental assessment. Measures will be put in place to minimise impacts on the community and local environment.

Work hours are 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with no works on Sundays or public holidays.

Some night work could be required to minimise the impact on traffic, businesses and the general community during the day. We would contact affected community members in advance of this work with more information.