Our emergency operational response is now easing, but work continues to reduce the likelihood of similar outages in future summers.
What has been done
The good news is that the work we have carried out, together with recent rainfall, means the risk of further outages from this issue is now low.
Insulator pollution has been managed through a coordinated statewide program of monitoring, maintenance, and operational response. This approach combined targeted field work, specialist techniques, and longer-term network planning to reduce the likelihood of outages and minimise customer impacts.
A dedicated, cross-functional Taskforce was established to coordinate this work across the network, bringing together operational, engineering, asset, and customer teams. The Taskforce ensured response activities and communications were aligned and applied consistently in affected regions. The Taskforce will continue to coordinate our medium and long-term response.
Inspection and risk prioritisation
Targeted inspections were completed across affected parts of the network to identify insulators and powerline sections at greatest risk of pollution-related faults. This ensured crews were focused first on the areas with the highest customer impact and greatest reliability risk.
We’re continuing to monitor the insulator pollution issue closely and will keep responding as needed until we're confident the situation has stabilised.
Increased washing and replacement program
Throughout January and February we carried out extensive work across the network, including washing and targeted replacement of insulators in the most affected areas. This included around 85% of poles identified as high risk.
Combined with the significant rainfall at the end of February, this has improved network performance. There have been no significant insulator pollution-related outages since mid-February.
Manual insulator washing remains one of the most effective ways to reduce reliability impacts in the highest-risk areas.
Washing removes built-up dust, dirt and salt from insulators and helps reduce the likelihood of flashovers and outages during dry conditions.
In cases, where washing alone was not sufficient – particularly where insulators were degraded by repeated flashovers – we prioritised these insulators for upgrades.
Helicopter washing
SA Power Networks has started trialling the use of helicopters to wash large sections of the distribution network more efficiently and with considerably less impact on customers.
This trial, which started on the Yorke Peninsula on 3 March, is proving operationally successful and will support future contingency planning.
Helicopter washing allows us to cover areas faster than ground crews alone, and in many cases can be undertaken as live line washing, meaning insulators can be cleaned without planned power interruptions.
This approach is aimed at complementing ground-based programs and helps accelerate progress across priority areas.
As of March 2026, the success of our manual washing program, combined with recent rainfall, has meant that helicopter washing is unlikely to be used at scale this summer.
Mobile generation deployment
In February 2026, mobile generation was deployed to support supply stability in hardest-hit areas while remediation continued. Mobile generation was intended to provide a backup supply for interruptions of the main supply lines, but did/does not eliminate momentary interruptions. The selection of locations was based on the following criteria:
- Highest impact on business and affected customer numbers
- The extent to which other remediation measures may reduce impacts in the short term
- Technical viability of connecting and using generation based on the local network
Mobile generation was subsequently deployed in Minlaton and Cowell.
Throughout January and February we undertook an extensive insulator washing program, resulting in a considerable reduction of interruptions as lines were washed. Together with recent heavy rainfall we believe the risk of further interruptions from insulator pollution this season is very low.
The generators in Minlaton and Cowell will remain in place for the immediate future, until such time as we are confident that the issue has been entirely resolved this season.
While SA Power Networks was preparing to deploy generation at Beachport, we have not experienced a pollution-related interruption following our washing program in early February, and given recent heavy rainfall, we do not anticipate the need to dispatch generation at this stage.
Operational readiness and continuous improvement
Operational readiness was strengthened during high-risk conditions through enhanced monitoring, forecasting and flexible deployment of crews and specialist resources.
Information gathered from inspections, outages and field work will continue to be used to refine response processes and inform longer-term asset management strategies, supporting more targeted interventions and ongoing improvements in network reliability.
What happens next
With this season’s risk now materially reduced, our focus will shift to:
- Completing any emergency washing and mitigation works, as required;
- Completing helicopter washing trial outcomes, for possible future use
- Completing and assessing trials of silicone spraying methods (including by helicopter). This trial will assess whether silicone coating can help reduce flashovers and improve performance in the short-to-medium term, particularly where replacement cannot be immediately undertaken
- Installing remotely operable switches, to backup customers from alternative sources of supply
- Implementing medium and long-term mitigation measures ahead of summer 2026/27
- Structured engagement with customers in the lead-up to the 2030–35 regulatory reset.