Avoiding another Black Summer

Australian engineers have developed an innovative material designed to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking. Their invention promises to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts.

Pole-top fires pose a major challenge to power providers and communities worldwide. In March 2024, 40,000 homes and businesses in Perth lost power as a result of this type of fire.

The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found that power outages experienced by 280,000 customers from various energy providers during the 2019–2020 Black Summer bushfires were mainly triggered by events involving insulators and poles.

These fires can occur when consecutive hot, dry and windy days are followed by damp and misty conditions, according to RMIT University Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Tariq Nazir.

“Dust and pollution builds up on powerline insulators, which enables electricity to spark and heat metal fixtures that can cause wooden power poles to catch fire,” he said.

Nazir, from RMIT’s School of Engineering, said power utilities wash insulators on overhead powerlines as a vital maintenance procedure to prevent problems like contamination and electrical sparking, which can cause pole-top fires and power outages.

“Our proposed silicone rubber composite material offers a potential solution that could save power companies time, maintenance resources and ultimately money [by preventing] damage to their assets,” he said.

As well as silicone, the composite material comprises chopped fibreglass, aluminium hydroxide and a type of clay derived from volcanic ash as additives.

In collaboration with researchers at the University of New South Wales, Nazir has developed the material at the lab scale. The team’s results and analysis have been published in the international journal Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials.

Side-by-side comparison: The team’s proposed power pole insulation material (left) next to silicone following a fire-resistance experiment. Credit: Supplied by the research team.

“Our innovation could serve as a protective coating or paint for ceramic and glass insulators, providing extra defence against environmental factors such as moisture, pollution and fire,” Nazir said.

“We are keen to engage with fire-retardant coating manufacturers, electrical utilities, electrical insulation designers, manufacturers of electrical insulation products and regulatory agencies to further develop and prototype this work.”

Nazir said the research was novel as it explored the flame retardancy of insulator materials. “Others are working mainly in electrical discharge resistance of material,” he said. “I am trying to achieve both sides, whilst maintaining the required electrical insulation level of composites.”

With the help of prospective partners, the team has plans to transition to larger-scale production processes for commercial applications as well as conducting more comprehensive durability testing under simulated outdoor conditions.

“Application-specific testing will assess suitability for various scenarios, and integration with existing systems will be explored,” Nazir said.

Nazir and his colleagues are behind another fire-protection innovation co-developed with the company Flame Security International — a fire-retardant paint that is already commercially available in Australia.

Top image caption: Lead researcher Dr Tariq Nazir conducts an electrical discharge experiment on the various insulation material test samples. Credit: Supplied by the research team.