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Vegetation Management


Implementing Advanced Vegetation Management Strategies

Improve grid reliability today. BY SARA SANKOWICH, Unitil In 2011, the New England region faced two significant weather events: Hurricane Irene and an unseasonably early October snowstorm—on top of other frequent major storm events in the preceding four years. Utilities could not avoid the...

Distribution Protection


ArmorBuiltTM Wildfire Shield Proven Protection for Utility Poles

IntroductionIn November of 2018, the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history burned a total of 240 square miles, destroyed 18,804 structures and resulted in 85 civilian fatalities. Known as the Camp Fire, it devastated several communities including the towns of Paradise and...

Pole Line Hardware


Utility Pole Showdown: Wood vs. Steel

A recent study that takes an in-depth look at the environmental performance of wood and steel utility poles challenges current perceptions on the sustainability advantages of wood poles when compared with steel poles. The detailed study, titled “Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Southern...

Underground Distribution


Solving Underground Cable Problems with Partial Discharge Testing

How to prevent failure with partial discharge testing BY HENNING OETJEN, Megger Partial discharge (PD) measurements are increasingly used as a reliable and non-destructive diagnostic method to detect weak spots in the insulation of underground cables. Routinely, partial discharge measurements are...

Conductors & Materials


How Modern Conductors are Improving Grid Reliability and Much More

Reflections: Nearly twenty years ago when I got into the energy business, reliability was a second-tier design objective for most transmission engineers. Safety factors had already been established and the materials we used for structures and powerline wires (conductors) were well known. While...

Outage Management & Restoration


The End of the Road for Transmission Incentives

In a significant shift, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has decided to abandon its transmission incentives policy, particularly the construction work in progress (CWIP) incentives. This decision marks a pivotal change in how transmission projects are financed and regulated,...

Overhead T&D

The Truth About Field Data Management

Field data management: The value and challenge of asset health insight

BY PAUL BARNETT, JOHN STEWART, Tennessee Valley Authority & PAT BROWN, Electric Power Research Institute

Intelligent management and operation of assets is of major importance to electric utilities. In an era where assets are being kept in service beyond their originally anticipated life spans, where replacement dollars are tight and where reliability expectations are increasing, insight into the health of utility assets is critical...

Overhead T&D Articles