Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group (BRIG) was established to represent irrigators in the Bundaberg district across a range of commodity groups including sugar cane, grain and horticulture.
Power Outage Alarm
In response to the learning’s from the T33 load control trial, we asked Energy Queensland to develop a text message notification system providing notice to growers of the outage and restoration of power to their load control tariff site to assist in irrigation management around outages.
Although a trial of this system has been conducted, Energy Queensland has advised that the possibility of a tariff-based outage/restoration notification system is dependent on the implementation of the new corporate Load Control and Distribution Management Systems and is not expected to be considered until after mid-2022.
In recognition of this, Energy Queensland has proactively approached the market to identify a suitable 3rd party option that customers could utilize in the interim. A simple plug-and-play solution has been identified which is effective in providing reliable and cost-effective outage and restoration SMS notifications.
The iSocket – https://www.isocket.com.au/order/ – retails for around $246 plus a monthly subscription cost (~$5.40). In the testing undertaken on this device, it provides text message notifications within 15 seconds of power outage/restoration being detected. There may be alternative supplies of similar, suitable equipment and we encourage growers to talk with their electrical contractor about other options that may be suitable.
Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group 