PG&E washing power lines with helicopters
– As part of its ongoing effort to improve the safety and reliability of its electric system, Pacific Gas and Electric routinely uses a specialized helicopter to wash power lines that tend to accumulate significant amounts of contamination throughout the year such as dirt and salt. This contamination can build up inside electric insulating equipment and cause power outages.
PG&E’s line washing helicopter is mounted with a system that utilizes a 30-foot boom to shoot a stream of high pressure water on the insulators to wash them clean. Through August 21, residents of San Luis Obispo County might see the helicopter in action as it rinses power lines and equipment in the area. Crews will be in the Atascadero area late next week.
Heavy fog along coastal regions can leave corrosive salt on electrical equipment and farm work can kick up a good amount of dust and dirt. If too much dirt builds up inside electric insulating equipment, electricity can track across the dirt. This “tracking” can activate protective equipment on power lines and cause momentary outages that typically last just a few seconds. If left alone, this contamination can eventually cause more serious damage to equipment resulting in longer outages for customers. To improve service reliability, PG&E’s line washing program targets power lines that have experienced outages caused by contamination in the past.
Helicopters are a very efficient way to perform this work. PG&E can clean about 150 electric towers and cover approximately 20 miles a day with a helicopter as opposed to about 50 towers a day with a line washing truck. In total, PG&E cleans 11,000 to 12,000 targeted electric towers each year. The 30-foot boom that PG&E uses during this work helps operators aim the water directly onto the electric insulators that need to be washed, so little water is wasted in the process.
PG&E is being cognizant of the ongoing drought, so water used to perform the washing here in the county comes from the desalination facility at Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
This program is a great example of how PG&E is working every day to provide safe, reliable and affordable electricity to its customers.
Because of work like this, in 2014, PG&E customers experienced the fewest number of service interruptions in company history.
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