AFR Winner

Employees: 100-499

Assets like faulty power poles can and have caused devastating bushfires endangering lives and homes. In Western Australia’s populated, but dry and bushfire prone South West there are more than 500,000 power poles and it’s not practical to replace them all. A way to prioritise replacement and maintenance was needed. Our innovation has the superpower of saving lives and homes from devastating bushfires.

It uses supercomputer capabilities to predict the impact a bushfire may have from a single ignition source like a power pole. However, there are hundreds of thousands of power poles in Western Australia. At a minimum, our innovation will assist WA’s power utility, Western Power to determine which power poles may pose the largest risk to lives and homes. It will help Western Power prioritise which assets to maintain first, helping save lives and communities throughout the South West with its 500,000 power poles.