Decision support for mitigating the risk of tree induced transmission line failure in utility rights-of-way.
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.
Poulos
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Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. hpoulos@wesleyan.edu
Camp
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D003237:Connecticut; D057225:Data Mining; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D004868:Equipment Failure; D014197:Trees