Tranmission

There is at present no national grid system due mainly to challenges posed by PNG's difficult topography as well as vast distances between various towns or load centres. PPL nonetheless has plans to interconnect the Ramu and the Port Moresby systems. The project however depends entirely on the planned construction of a trans-island road to link the New Guinea Highlands to Papua, which itself has not eventuated.

The transmission systems service the Port Moresby, Ramu and Gazelle regions.

The Ramu system is the most extensive at over 700km and services the Lae, Madang and Highland regions of PNG.

PNG Power has 2801km of distribution lines in the major centres connected to the transmission grids. PNG Power also has 502km of distribution lines in the regional centres that distribute locally generated power around the town and nearby areas.

Transmission and Substations

PNG Power continued to implement a program of augmentation and heavy maintenance to improve the performance of the transmission systems and associated substations.

Major substation augmentation works to improve system reliability and flexibility were undertaken at Boroko, Kanudi, Moitaka and Konedobu in Port Moresby, Meiro in Madang and Taraka and Milford in Lae. A new substation was constructed at Gusap on the Yonki to Madang transmission line to supply power to the Highlands Pacific Kainantu gold mine and nearby agricultural processing plants.

PNG Power implemented a major refurbishment program on the Port Moresby transmission system with particular emphasis on the transmission line from the Moitaka power station to the Boroko substation where an optical ground wire (OPGW) has also been installed to improve system communications. A tie line was established between the Boroko and Waigani substations. This maintenance program made a significant improvement in the system reliability and flexibility.

PNG Power also completed the upgrade of part of the power line carrier (PLC) on the Ramu transmission system. The PLC is the means for voice, data and telemetry communications and through which switchgear is controlled. The original equipment was thirty years old and required replacement as parts and system knowledge were difficult to acquire.

The power supply in Gazelle was affected by numerous outages on the Warangoi - Kokopo - Rabaul transmission line caused by the high deterioration rate on the poles and associated hardware under the harsh local environment. With the temporary power station at Takubar near Kokopo operational, reliance upon power supply from the Warangoi hydro power station was reduced allowing PNG Power to continue the program to refurbish and upgrade this 75km transmission line.