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- Title
Decision Support for Mitigating the Risk of Tree Induced Transmission Line Failure in Utility Rights-of-Way.
- Authors
Poulos, H. M.; Camp, A. E.
- Abstract
Vegetation management is a critical component of rights-of-way (ROW) maintenance for preventing electrical outages and safety hazards resulting from tree contact with conductors during storms. Northeast Utility’s (NU) transmission lines are a critical element of the nation’s power grid; NU is therefore under scrutiny from federal agencies charged with protecting the electrical transmission infrastructure of the United States. We developed a decision support system to focus right-of-way maintenance and minimize the potential for a tree fall episode that disables transmission capacity across the state of Connecticut. We used field data on tree characteristics to develop a system for identifying hazard trees (HTs) in the field using limited equipment to manage Connecticut power line ROW. Results from this study indicated that the tree height-to-diameter ratio, total tree height, and live crown ratio were the key characteristics that differentiated potential risk trees (danger trees) from trees with a high probability of tree fall (HTs). Products from this research can be transferred to adaptive right-of-way management, and the methods we used have great potential for future application to other regions of the United States and elsewhere where tree failure can disrupt electrical power.
- Subjects
DECISION support systems; ELECTRIC lines; RIGHT of way; ELECTRIC utilities; VEGETATION management; TREE hazard evaluation
- Publication
Environmental Management, 2010, Vol 45, Issue 2, p217
- ISSN
0364-152X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00267-009-9422-5