History of electricity supply in Queensland
Encyclopedia
Queensland
being Australia's second largest state in terms of physical area (Western Australia
is the largest), achieving the early leaders' dream of providing electricity
to every home entailed a considerable degree of pioneering, innovation, and commitment. Generation and limited distribution was initially the responsibility of local authorities. Queensland proved to be a pioneer in the supply of electricity, with the first public demonstration in Australia, the first recorded use for public purposes in the country, the first Parliament House in Australia and the first commercial operations in Australia all occurring in Brisbane.
A central state-based authority to coordinate the generation and distribution of electrical power was not established until 1938. In the late 1990s, the electricity sector was restructured to enable integration with the National Electricity Market
.
in Brisbane. Power was supplied by a 10 hp generator driven by a small engine in a foundry in Adelaide Street
. This was Australia's first recorded use of electricity for public purposes.
The first practical use of electricity was for lighting in the Government Printing Office in George Street
in April 1883. In 1886, the Roma Street Railway Yards were using arc lights. In the same year, an underground cable connected the Parliament House from the Printing Office, the first of any Parliament House in Australia. The supervision of the laying of cable was done by E.C. Barton. Barton formed a company with C.F. White and in 1888 they built a power house in Edison Lane behind the General Post Office
. The generating capacity was 30 kW. The General Post Office became the first consumer of electricity in Australia and Barton and White the first electricity supplier in Australia.
In far western Thargomindah
, late in the 19th century, the civic fathers set up the first natural gas
powered generating station in the world. Electricity for lighting was also generated from the pressure of artesian
water bores
. The use of bore water at Thargomindah has been described as Australia's first hydro-electricity scheme and operated until 1951.
After Thargomindah, Charters Towers
received electricity supply in 1897, Rockhampton
in 1898, Toowoomba in 1905, Warwick
in 1912 and Aye
was supplied in 1914. A number of coal mine in the Ipswich district were generating electricity by the early 1900s.
Later, in Dalby
, on the Darling Downs a much larger suction gas engine was installed in a power house by Myall Creek to supply the town. Other local authorities, one by one, set up generation stations using various types of diesel
engines. The station in Tara
used horizontal single cylinder heavy diesel fuel engines with drip lubrication. Others used more familiar types.
The power station in Roma
was first set up using Ruston & Hornsby and Blackstone and Mirrlees 12 and 16 cylinder diesel engines. As demand grew, a turbine modified from a 707 jet engine was installed to supplement peak load
. When the Roma gas fields were developed, all these engines were modified to run on dual fuel. When the gas flow was insufficient for the engines' needs, they ran on natural gas, but when the flow faltered, as it often did, the engines would automatically convert to burning diesel distillate. In 1928, the New Farm Powerhouse (now known as the Brisbane Powerhouse) became operational. It was owned by the Brisbane City Council until it was sold in 1963 to the Southern Electricity Authority and then decommissioned in 1971.
In the major metropolitan areas of Brisbane, Gold Coast
and Toowoomba
, private companies provided supply and this continued into the 1950s. But the State Government
then took a hand, dividing responsibility for electricity supply for the state amongst three Electricity Supply Authorities, Southern, Central and Northern. These basically covered the high population areas of the east coast, leaving supply in the west in the hands of the various local councils.
decided that there should be one electrical authority for South East Queensland in 1961. The Southern Electricity Authority of Queensland (SEAQ), absorbed not only the City Electric Light and Power Company which supplied Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but also Toowoomba Electric Light and Power Company, which also covered some areas west of the Great Dividing Range
. The new authority was considered a major step forward in electrical progress. Its establishment prepared the way forward for future amalgamation of power supply in South East Queensland
.
A new order commenced with the Electricity Act of 1976, under which a series of regional Electricity Boards were set up replacing the three Electricity Authorities from 1 July 1977. These Boards were under the umbrella of the State Electricity Commission of Queensland, which assumed the major generation and transmission responsibilities in 1938 after the Queensland Government's Royal Commission on Generation and Distribution of Electric Power in Queensland, 1936 was conducted to review electricity supply in the state. Governing Board members this time included State Government representative members, local councillors, and prominent business people. Under this new set-up, responsibility for electricity distribution from the ranges east of Toowoomba to the South Australia
n border was given to the South West Queensland Electricity Board (SWQEB), and the eight separate local council power stations were handed over to the Board's control. In 1945, the South East Queensland Electricity Board (SEQEB), Wide Bay-Burnett Electricity Board, Capricornia Electricity Board, Mackay Electricity Board, North Queensland Electricity Board, Far North Queensland Electricity Board were also established to distribute electricity in their respective regions. This marked the first attempt to coordinate electricity supply outside of South East Queensland.
During this time the effort to supply remote properties led to the pioneering of a different means of supply – Single-wire earth return (SWER) lines were set up reaching many thousands of miles and many hundreds of outlying properties with reliable electricity supplies for the first time. Because of the de-centralisation of government departments in Queensland, the headquarters for the SWQEB was established at Dalby, with that region's power house, operating systems, and customer billing taken over immediately. The electricity facilities of the seven surrounding council areas were gradually absorbed, but meter reading
and customer billing in each of these continued for some time as local operations. Customer billing for the area covered by the SWQEB that was formerly within the SEAQ was administered on a bureau basis by SEQEB, which was based in Brisbane.
, and Stanthorpe
the Board's new computers failed totally, the Board was sacked and replaced with an administrator, Peter Thorley, with SEQEB's General Manager and Secretary forced to work with Thornley to solve the problem. Although Thornley departed to become administrator of the sacked Melbourne City Council before a solution was found, he established teams to work on individual aspects of the issue, which were making progress. A new board was appointed, and after some staff reorganisation, was able to pull the teams' work together and produce accounts which passed the Auditor General's scrutiny for the first time in several years.
During this time, the generation and transmission portions of the Queensland Electricity Commission were separated into two separate bodies, and high voltage transmission lines
were built all the way west to Charleville
, Cunnamulla
, Quilpie
, Thargomindah
and beyond. In the remote areas beyond the Grey Range, some stand alone generation stations were set up similar to those already operating in remote northern aboriginal communities. Another restructure of the state's electricity supply saw the abolishment of the multiple Boards, with Energex
replacing the SEQEB, and Ergon
set up for the rest of the state. This represented a major departure from the previous decentralised nature of the industry, with Ergon's headquarters transferring to Brisbane. The former SWQEB headquarters in Dalby was gradually de-populated, and eventually purchased by Western Downs Regional Council. It is presently being refurbished to become the Council's headquarters with an expected opening in October 2011.
. Queensland became connected to the national grid via the main New South Wales
transmission system on 14 February 2001.
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
being Australia's second largest state in terms of physical area (Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
is the largest), achieving the early leaders' dream of providing electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
to every home entailed a considerable degree of pioneering, innovation, and commitment. Generation and limited distribution was initially the responsibility of local authorities. Queensland proved to be a pioneer in the supply of electricity, with the first public demonstration in Australia, the first recorded use for public purposes in the country, the first Parliament House in Australia and the first commercial operations in Australia all occurring in Brisbane.
A central state-based authority to coordinate the generation and distribution of electrical power was not established until 1938. In the late 1990s, the electricity sector was restructured to enable integration with the National Electricity Market
National Electricity Market
The National Electricity Market is the name of the Australian wholesale electricity market and the associated synchronous electricity transmission grid....
.
Local authority
Initially, the many local authorities raised funds, and provided supply for their own areas in whatever way they could. In 1882, a demonstration of what electricity could do was conducted with eight arc lights along Queen StreetQueen Street, Brisbane
Queen Street in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia, is one of the city's major streets. It is the city's central road, partly covered by a pedestrian mall called the Queen Street Mall. Queen Street ends at the Victoria Bridge and is bounded by two of the Brisbane River's central reaches...
in Brisbane. Power was supplied by a 10 hp generator driven by a small engine in a foundry in Adelaide Street
Adelaide Street, Brisbane
Adelaide Street, which is a major thoroughfare in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, runs parallel to Queen Street and Ann Street.Notable buildings and parks along Adelaide Street include Brisbane City Hall, King George Square, ANZAC Square with the Shrine of Remembrance , ANZAC Square Arcade, Law...
. This was Australia's first recorded use of electricity for public purposes.
The first practical use of electricity was for lighting in the Government Printing Office in George Street
George Street, Brisbane
George Street is a main street located in the Brisbane CBD in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. A major thoroughfare, George Street connects to the Queensland University of Technology as well as the state Botanical Gardens, to the commercial centre of Brisbane, Queen Street and Queen Street Mall.The...
in April 1883. In 1886, the Roma Street Railway Yards were using arc lights. In the same year, an underground cable connected the Parliament House from the Printing Office, the first of any Parliament House in Australia. The supervision of the laying of cable was done by E.C. Barton. Barton formed a company with C.F. White and in 1888 they built a power house in Edison Lane behind the General Post Office
General Post Office, Brisbane
The General Post Office in Brisbane, Australia, also known as the GPO, is an Australia Post building located between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street.-History:The GPO was opened on 28 September 1872...
. The generating capacity was 30 kW. The General Post Office became the first consumer of electricity in Australia and Barton and White the first electricity supplier in Australia.
In far western Thargomindah
Thargomindah, Queensland
- External links:* * * *...
, late in the 19th century, the civic fathers set up the first natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
powered generating station in the world. Electricity for lighting was also generated from the pressure of artesian
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin provides the only reliable source of freshwater through much of inland Australia. The basin is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over a total of , with temperatures measured ranging from 30°C to 100°C...
water bores
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
. The use of bore water at Thargomindah has been described as Australia's first hydro-electricity scheme and operated until 1951.
After Thargomindah, Charters Towers
Charters Towers, Queensland
Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold...
received electricity supply in 1897, Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
in 1898, Toowoomba in 1905, Warwick
Warwick, Queensland
Warwick is a town in Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Local Government Area. In 2006 the town of Warwick had a population of 12,562....
in 1912 and Aye
Ayr, Queensland
Ayr is a town in Queensland, Australia near the delta of the Burdekin River, named after the Scottish town of Ayr by the settlers from the United Kingdom...
was supplied in 1914. A number of coal mine in the Ipswich district were generating electricity by the early 1900s.
Later, in Dalby
Dalby, Queensland
Dalby is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, and is located approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junction of the Warrego, Moonie and Bunya Highways. Dalby is the administrative centre of the Western Downs Region and the centre of Australia's richest...
, on the Darling Downs a much larger suction gas engine was installed in a power house by Myall Creek to supply the town. Other local authorities, one by one, set up generation stations using various types of diesel
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
engines. The station in Tara
Tara, Queensland
Tara is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, located 300 kilometres south west of the state capital, Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Tara had a population of 819...
used horizontal single cylinder heavy diesel fuel engines with drip lubrication. Others used more familiar types.
The power station in Roma
Roma, Queensland
Roma is a town in the western Darling Downs area of Queensland, Australia, by rail WNW of Brisbane. It is situated at the junction of the Warrego and Carnarvon highways...
was first set up using Ruston & Hornsby and Blackstone and Mirrlees 12 and 16 cylinder diesel engines. As demand grew, a turbine modified from a 707 jet engine was installed to supplement peak load
Peak demand
Peak demand is used to refer to a historically high point in the sales record of a particular product. In terms of energy use, peak demand describes a period of strong consumer demand.- Peak load :...
. When the Roma gas fields were developed, all these engines were modified to run on dual fuel. When the gas flow was insufficient for the engines' needs, they ran on natural gas, but when the flow faltered, as it often did, the engines would automatically convert to burning diesel distillate. In 1928, the New Farm Powerhouse (now known as the Brisbane Powerhouse) became operational. It was owned by the Brisbane City Council until it was sold in 1963 to the Southern Electricity Authority and then decommissioned in 1971.
In the major metropolitan areas of Brisbane, Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
and Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
, private companies provided supply and this continued into the 1950s. But the State Government
Government of Queensland
The Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...
then took a hand, dividing responsibility for electricity supply for the state amongst three Electricity Supply Authorities, Southern, Central and Northern. These basically covered the high population areas of the east coast, leaving supply in the west in the hands of the various local councils.
Southern Electricity Authority of Queensland
The Government of QueenslandGovernment of Queensland
The Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...
decided that there should be one electrical authority for South East Queensland in 1961. The Southern Electricity Authority of Queensland (SEAQ), absorbed not only the City Electric Light and Power Company which supplied Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but also Toowoomba Electric Light and Power Company, which also covered some areas west of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
. The new authority was considered a major step forward in electrical progress. Its establishment prepared the way forward for future amalgamation of power supply in South East Queensland
South East Queensland
South East Queensland is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains approximately two-thirds of the state population...
.
A new order commenced with the Electricity Act of 1976, under which a series of regional Electricity Boards were set up replacing the three Electricity Authorities from 1 July 1977. These Boards were under the umbrella of the State Electricity Commission of Queensland, which assumed the major generation and transmission responsibilities in 1938 after the Queensland Government's Royal Commission on Generation and Distribution of Electric Power in Queensland, 1936 was conducted to review electricity supply in the state. Governing Board members this time included State Government representative members, local councillors, and prominent business people. Under this new set-up, responsibility for electricity distribution from the ranges east of Toowoomba to the South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n border was given to the South West Queensland Electricity Board (SWQEB), and the eight separate local council power stations were handed over to the Board's control. In 1945, the South East Queensland Electricity Board (SEQEB), Wide Bay-Burnett Electricity Board, Capricornia Electricity Board, Mackay Electricity Board, North Queensland Electricity Board, Far North Queensland Electricity Board were also established to distribute electricity in their respective regions. This marked the first attempt to coordinate electricity supply outside of South East Queensland.
During this time the effort to supply remote properties led to the pioneering of a different means of supply – Single-wire earth return (SWER) lines were set up reaching many thousands of miles and many hundreds of outlying properties with reliable electricity supplies for the first time. Because of the de-centralisation of government departments in Queensland, the headquarters for the SWQEB was established at Dalby, with that region's power house, operating systems, and customer billing taken over immediately. The electricity facilities of the seven surrounding council areas were gradually absorbed, but meter reading
Electricity meter
An electricity meter or energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered device....
and customer billing in each of these continued for some time as local operations. Customer billing for the area covered by the SWQEB that was formerly within the SEAQ was administered on a bureau basis by SEQEB, which was based in Brisbane.
Modernisation
The transfer was not without problems: when the transfer of customer billing for Toowoomba, WarwickWarwick, Queensland
Warwick is a town in Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Local Government Area. In 2006 the town of Warwick had a population of 12,562....
, and Stanthorpe
Stanthorpe, Queensland
Stanthorpe is a town situated in south east Queensland, Australia. The town lies on the New England Highway near the New South Wales border 223 km from Brisbane via Warwick, 56 km north of Tenterfield and 811 m above sea level. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt...
the Board's new computers failed totally, the Board was sacked and replaced with an administrator, Peter Thorley, with SEQEB's General Manager and Secretary forced to work with Thornley to solve the problem. Although Thornley departed to become administrator of the sacked Melbourne City Council before a solution was found, he established teams to work on individual aspects of the issue, which were making progress. A new board was appointed, and after some staff reorganisation, was able to pull the teams' work together and produce accounts which passed the Auditor General's scrutiny for the first time in several years.
During this time, the generation and transmission portions of the Queensland Electricity Commission were separated into two separate bodies, and high voltage transmission lines
Electric power transmission
Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...
were built all the way west to Charleville
Charleville, Queensland
Charleville is a town in south western Queensland, Australia, 758 kilometres by road west of Brisbane . It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Murweh Shire, which covers an area of 43,905 square kilometres...
, Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla, Queensland
Cunnamulla is a small town that lies on the Warrego River in south west Queensland, Australia, south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane....
, Quilpie
Quilpie, Queensland
-External links:* *...
, Thargomindah
Thargomindah, Queensland
- External links:* * * *...
and beyond. In the remote areas beyond the Grey Range, some stand alone generation stations were set up similar to those already operating in remote northern aboriginal communities. Another restructure of the state's electricity supply saw the abolishment of the multiple Boards, with Energex
Energex
Energex is an Australian energy company owned by the Queensland Government. It is based in Brisbane and was founded in 1922 as the City Electric Light Co....
replacing the SEQEB, and Ergon
Ergon (Australia)
Ergon is a corporation owned by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It supplies electricity to Queenslanders outside the metropolitan southeast through a distribution network and retail activities....
set up for the rest of the state. This represented a major departure from the previous decentralised nature of the industry, with Ergon's headquarters transferring to Brisbane. The former SWQEB headquarters in Dalby was gradually de-populated, and eventually purchased by Western Downs Regional Council. It is presently being refurbished to become the Council's headquarters with an expected opening in October 2011.
Restructure
In 1997, the electricity sector was restructured in preparation for the implementation of the National Electricity MarketNational Electricity Market
The National Electricity Market is the name of the Australian wholesale electricity market and the associated synchronous electricity transmission grid....
. Queensland became connected to the national grid via the main New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
transmission system on 14 February 2001.