Transmission

Transmission moves electricity from where it is generated to where it is used - in our homes, workplaces and communities. A transmission network is the towers, power poles, wires, cables and other infrastructure that moves energy.

Transmission works in a similar way to our freeways and highways. Instead of vehicles on roads, it moves large volumes of energy along wires attached to towers and poles. In Western Australia, our largest network is Western Power's transmission network in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).

The energy transition is not just a shift from fossil fuels to renewables. It’s also a shift from a system where energy was generated in a small number of centralised locations to one where energy is generated in many different places, spread over a large geographical area.

When we relied on sources like coal for most of our energy, generation could be concentrated in one place and sent out from there. In Collie, for example, there are several coal power plants, with the town historically considered the heart of our biggest energy grid. But as we move toward more renewable energy, our wind and solar farm projects are spread out, as they need to be where the best wind and sun conditions are. This means that to deliver clean energy from the locations it is generated to where it is used, we need new and upgraded transmission infrastructure.