When is a stand-alone power system cheaper than replacing a rural feeder?

Frequently, and earlier than most planners assume, the deciding variable is line length per customer. Against a SAPS’s fixed cost per site sits the feeder’s replacement capital, plus perpetual vegetation management, inspection, patrol and fault response, plus bushfire and storm exposure, plus reliability performance. The published evidence: Western Power has installed more than 320 units with a long-run scenario of around 4,000, removing roughly 50,000 poles and 23,000 km of conductor, and reports outages on SAPS-served properties down around 90%. Essential Energy is targeting 400 SAPS by 2029. /saps-vs-network-extension-cost/