After positive feedback and high demand, we are excited to announce that we will be running a second Overhead Line Design (OHLD) online seminar series in February!
Like the seminars we ran last September, this course is perfect for those who want to up-skill their OHL design, are keen to find practical solutions to some of the issues faced in the industry or are wanting to get a refresher on OHL design efficiency.
With a focus on practical outcomes and producing an environment for quality learning, we have decided to extend the seminar to hosting the 4 sessions over the span of 2 weeks, with each session going for 2 hours.
This seminar series will be live on Wednesday 16/02, Friday 18/02, Wednesday 23/02, and Friday 25/02. They will start at 11am AEDT (11am NSW/VIC/TAS/ACT, 10am QLD, 9:30am SA/NT, 8am WA).
These seminars will be recorded and available to watch on replay. Our goal with this training course is for trainees to be able to:
- Identify what information they need to collect as inputs to a line design.
- Analyse a range of line design solutions and identify the optimum (robust) solution to meet the needs of the client.
- Document the design details into a construction package.
More about the February OHLD seminars.
This 4-session online seminar series has been developed to help those in the industry as overhead lines play a pivotal role in Australia infrastructure. Without strong OHLD, issues arise delivering energy around the nation. As overhead line assets age and reliance on the grid increases, line design is more important than ever before.
These seminars are aimed at covering some of the electrical and structural aspects of detailed overhead line design. These seminars have been developed after years of observing and noting gaps in knowledge within the OHLD industry and have been further tailored by the feedback from the first seminar series.
Check out the review below to find out what you can expect:
I just wanted to thank you for running the series of OH Line Design Seminars and for extending the invitation to my team and I to attend. I found the sessions really informative and presented in such a way that even someone with a limited knowledge of overhead line equipment and design principles would understand the content.
The format and approach taken by Grant and Nathan in aiming this training for learning and professional development will be really popular within an organisation like ours, given our geographic spread of employees. Please let us know about any future similar events and I will be sure to promote them across the organisation.
With a focus on helping the industry becoming more unified and more informed, we will also provide a time for Q&A at the end of each session and a pdf with all the presented material included.
This is the introduction to the full in-person course that would normally take 3 full days and include a lot more detail, topics, field excursions, worked examples and quizzes. And it will come with a price to suit all this extra content. This four-day seminar series is only $198 per person including GST, an absolute bargain.
Who should attend?
These seminars have been created for OHL designers of any and all skill levels, with a particular focus on helping those who are relatively new to the design space. There will be a space for Q&A that will be great for technical discussions in each session.
How to sign up for the course.
Course outline.
Over the four days, we will be covering the following.
Seminar 1
- Why do we need Overhead Line Design?
- Limit state design and OHLD.
- Types of loads.
- Material strengths.
Seminar 2
- Standards and their hierarchy.
- Choosing your design windspeed.
- Components of an OHLD and their relationships.
Seminar 3
- Conductors and conductor stringing.
- Understanding conductor temperature in OHLD.
- Common failure modes of conductors and how to avoid them.
- Stays.
Seminar 4
- Robust line design.
- Typical design requirements and outputs.
- Geotechnical engineering.
- OHLD software.
Training provider’s profile.

Grant Bailey
Senior Engineer
This training course will be led by Grant Bailey. Grant worked with Ausgrid for 17 years, undertaking roles across the full range of distribution and sub-transmission design, and was an ASP3 trainer before his departure. He was on the AS/NZS 7000 standards committee and has expertise in the various uses of Lidar in OHL design and management. Grant is also well versed in line design software such as TL Pro, Neara (formerly PowerLines Pro), Poles & Wires, and PLS CADD. He is also a qualified schoolteacher, family man, foodie and all-round nice guy.
Grant Bailey’s qualifications and memberships include:
- Qualified Supervisors Certificate – Electrician
- Bachelor of Electrical Engineering BEng (Hons II) University of Newcastle.
- Master of Business – University of Newcastle
- Master of Teaching – University of Newcastle
- Cert IV in Training and Assessment
- Member of the Institute of Engineers Australia (MIEAust).
- National Engineers Register – Electrical (NER).
- Registered Professional Engineer of Engineers Australia (RPEng).

Nathan Spencer
Director
Grant will be supported by Nathan Spencer. Nathan has over 21 years’ experience in the engineering consulting sector. He has worked on many structural design projects involving 3D finite element modelling, first principles design, product development, forensic assessment, corrosion assessment and remediation design, and numerous testing projects. Nathan has also led the way in the utility industry since working for and then with Koppers Wood Products, full-scale testing more than 800 poles of various materials, advising AS/NZS 7000 standards committees on foundation and timber pole design, and on pole test requirements. Nathan is also a Polyurea specialist, beer lover and proud father of 5 kids.
Nathan Spencer’s qualifications and memberships include:
- Bachelor of Civil Engineering BEng (Hons 1) University of Newcastle.
- Chartered member of the Institute of Engineers Australia (CPEng, MIEAust).
- Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ).
- National Professional Engineers Register – Structural (NPER).
- NACE Coating Inspector Level 1 – Certified (No. 55601)
- ACRA certificate in Corrosion and Protection of Reinforced Concrete Structures
- Member of the Australasian Corrosion Association (Member No. 4879)
- ACA Protective Coatings Quality Control course.