Each day is different: behind the scenes in our electricity control room

People are our energy source. We play different roles but it's our diverse capabilities and unique contributions that enable us to deliver, adapt and grow as a business. In our regular ‘People in Energy’ series we spotlight the work and careers of different individuals across our organisation. Here, we explore how Tim Pullens and his team literally keep the lights on.

Jemena Network Operations Manager Tim Pullens relishes being ready to respond to anything and everything happening across our electricity network.

“There is never a dull moment in the control room. We operate a 24/7 control room – that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year – monitoring our network and ensuring we are always ready to respond and literally ‘keep the lights on’.

“During the busy upcoming summer period, for example, where there is heightened risk of bushfires, we prepare the network to minimise the potential for bushfires and have additional safety protocols we follow on total fire ban days,” he said.

Tim, who has worked for Jemena for six years, said our control room works closely with field crews who are our ‘eyes and ears’ in the field, continually relaying critical feedback into the control room, helping us maintain network stability and safety.

“Our team plans and prioritises fault response and field resources including crews and trucks. We work closely with the field crews at all times, whether that be for fault diagnosis or around planned construction and maintenance work on the network.

“The ongoing safety of the public and our people working on the network is paramount. We ensure safe access to the electricity network for our field crews, which involves careful planning when programming planned outages to minimise the area affected and the length of time the power is off, and also critical safety protocols to ensure a safe work area,” he said.

Tim said that Jemena is always exploring innovations in technology to optimise control room operations.

“In addition to our control room being ready to react 24 hours a day, we have many systems that continually monitor the network to ensure we know very quickly if something goes wrong.

“To give you an idea, a complex system of alarms assists us in understanding what is occurring on the network – for example when the load gets too high on the network, we take action to balance the load where possible to avoid unplanned outages. 

“In addition, the Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR) system we implemented across our high voltage network in 2022 helps us to restore power faster and limits electricity outages to a much smaller area than previously. And with the increasing two-way flow of energy from renewable sources such as solar panels, we are also exploring technologies such as the Volt Var Control (VVC) system to allow us to dynamically adjust voltage on the network to maintain ongoing stability and reliability.

“We also respond directly to faults that occur across the network. When a car hits a pole, or branches fall from a tree onto powerlines during a storm, our protection systems kick in immediately to minimise the likelihood of damage to the network or to customer appliances,” he said.

Tim said he enjoys being part of a team who provide a critical and essential service to the community.

“My favourite part of my role is working with my team – a highly skilled bunch. I also really enjoy the challenges involved with the growth of renewable energy sources such as solar on the network. Their impact translates to more two-way flow of electricity which we need to be able to manage effectively to ensure ongoing stability of electricity supply. Like I said – never a dull moment!”