Electricity works are under way at Shepparton’s Goulburn Valley Health, with Powercor upgrading infrastructure as part of the site’s redevelopment.
Archer St will be affected from Monday, March 27, as existing powerlines and substations are upgraded, new underground cables are installed and switches are replaced in and around the hospital precinct.
“From March 27 we will be excavating the northbound lane of Archer St, near the intersection of Vaughan St, to allow underground high-voltage cables to feed power to the hospital precinct,” Powercor head of major projects Marcus Olive said.
“People may notice traffic diversions and changed traffic speed conditions.
“There may also be times throughout the remainder of the project that we need to disrupt power, so our crews can complete their work safely.
“Whenever this happens, we will of course contact customers well in advance to allow them to make alternative arrangements.”
Upgrades to the hospital include building a critical back-up supply line, making the site less reliant on its on-site generation and more resilient to local network power outages.
In addition, Powercor crews will also conduct work that will more than double the capacity of power supply — 2.4 megavolt-amperes to 6.5MVA — with a beneficial flow-on effect for homes in the area.
“As well as supporting a larger hospital, the works involve upgrading a back-up line from a separate zone substation, which means the hospital will be able to run at full capacity even if a major outage occurs on one part of the network,” Mr Olive said.
“The upgrade will also strengthen the network for homes and businesses in central and northern Shepparton, improving reliability and creating more capacity on the network for nearby customers.”
Powercor said the works were expected to be completed by June.