West Melbourne Terminal Station upgrade - planning permit application
Client: AusNet Services
Location: Victoria, Australia
Date: September 2012 – March 2013
Undertaking an environmental assessment and preparing a planning application for upgrade of an ageing terminal station to continue to reliably supply electricity
Background
The West Melbourne Terminal Station (WMTS), approximately 4 km from Melbourne’s CBD on the western bank of Moonee Ponds Creek, is owned and operated by SP AusNet. The WMTS receives electricity from generation sources and transforms it into lower voltages to supply customers in Melbourne’s western CBD. The terminal station plant is approximately 50 years old and was near the end of its design life. A major upgrade was necessary to ensure continued reliability of electricity supply.
The development comprised towers, gantries, rack structures, cables, power transformers, switchgear and buildings. Outside air-insulated switchgear was to be replaced with gas-insulated switchgear, housed in new buildings. Visual amenity was to be enhanced by removing external clutter and developing innovative building architecture.
Solution
For this upgrade project, Entura was responsible for managing impact assessments and for preparing and lodging the planning permit application. Entura coordinated a team of technical specialists, completed a comprehensive flood risk and climate change analysis for the site, and delivered a high-quality planning permit application.
Outcome
Entura was able to draw upon our extensive knowledge base and local government experience to ensure that the planning permit application satisfactorily addressed all relevant provisions of the Melbourne Planning Scheme.
Our comprehensive reporting provided Council with a ready checklist that listed the planning requirements for the site against how they were addressed by SP AusNet within design and construction processes, allowing for streamlined review and sign-off by Council planners.
The specialist studies found no major technical, environmental or community relations constraints that would stop the project proceeding. The key issue of potential inundation of the site was satisfactorily managed through a rigorous examination of flooding risk, including various climate change scenarios, resulting in design and management measures that adequately addressed the risk.
