Powercor - REFCL Design Program

REFCL technology is designed to reduce the risk of these assets igniting bushfires in one of the most bushfire-prone countries of the world.

Following devastating, fatal bushfires in the State of Victoria, Australia, the Victorian Government established the REFCL program to reduce the likelihood of fires being initiated by electricity distribution network assets.

The Electricity Safety (Bushfire Mitigation) Regulations 2023 required Powercor to install REFCL devices at 22 specified zone substations and meet specific REFCL performance requirements (required capacity) designed to reduce the fire start potential of electricity distribution assets.

Egis (formerly Peracon*) was engaged by electricity provider Powercor on their Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) program of works to mitigate risk of bushfire.

REFCL devices were installed at the Ballarat North (BAN) and Ballarat South (BAS) zone substations in 2020. Each REFCL device has the capacity to protect a finite portion of the network, dependent on the network configuration.

The REFCL technology operates like a large safety switch, detecting when one line out of a three-phase powerline has fallen to the ground. It almost instantly reduces the voltage on the fallen line and boosts the voltage on the two remaining lines in service. This means power to homes and businesses is maintained while the fire risk is substantially reduced.

Egis was engaged by Powercor on the REFCL program of works for over three years, with seven employees working in the Powercor team on a secondment basis.

Their roles included the following:

Primary design manager
Primary engineer
Civil engineer
Primary designers
Secondary designer

The team assisted Powercor to keep the challenging REFCL project on schedule for the following sites:

Tranche 1 - Eaglehawk
Tranche 2 - Ballarat North, Ballarat South, Charlton, Bendigo Terminal station, Terang & Ararat
Tranche 3 - Koroit & Hamilton

Egis was able to mobilise quickly to provide Powercor with an experienced design team to meet the tight regulatory schedule. Our experienced team of engineers and designers were embedded in the project team and worked closely with the Powercor staff to deliver this program of works.

*Percacon was acquired by Egis in 2025.

Powercor - REFCL Design Program.

Client

Timeline

Key figures.

The challenge.

REFCL technology is designed to reduce the risk of these assets igniting bushfires in one of the most bushfire-prone countries of the world.

Imagine.

Create.

Achieve.