A week after the devastating storm in southern Ontario and Quebec, communities in the affected regions are still rocked by the damage, with some residents staying eight days and counting without electricity.
Hydro One, which serves Ontario’s rural areas and is the largest utility company in the province, says 1,900 ladders were damaged in the storm. Officials from Hydro Quebec said 500 pillars in the province needed to be replaced. And in the nation’s capital, the storm damaged 300 ladders, according to Hydro Ottawa.
Replacement poles will have to come from somewhere, and utility companies typically rely on two different types of poles to support overhead power lines that supply electricity to our communities.
WOOD VS. COMPOSITE SHORTS
Utilities usually have a combination of hydro poles made of wood as well as poles made of composite materials. Hydro One says it supplies its wooden poles from an Ontario-based supplier, Stella Jones, while Hydro Ottawa supplies most of its cedar and pine poles grown in western Canada.
“These pillars are valued throughout North America for their balanced characteristics in terms of durability, longevity and cost-effectiveness,” Jose LaRoque, media and public relations manager at Hydro Ottawa, told CTVNews.ca on Friday.
Utility companies have relied on pillars made of wood for nearly two centuries, as it is a material with low conductivity and low propensity to expand due to heat. Wooden poles are also a green choice as they can be easily recycled.
But in ditches, rugged terrain and wet and swampy areas that pose a structural challenge for wooden poles, utilities choose composite poles made of fiberglass and coated with resin and UV protection. Hydro Ottawa says its composite poles are made in Ontario and can last up to 80 years, twice as long as wooden poles.
“They also have a high strength-to-weight ratio, which means they can be used in areas that may not be able to support a wooden pole… and are resistant to both rot and woodpecker damage,” he said. Larok.
Hydro One says it usually maintains a stockpile of poles and other infrastructure to prepare for adverse weather events, but the severity of last weekend’s storm meant the agency had to procure additional supplies quickly.
“We work with many great partners who have stepped up to provide us with the products we need to rebuild customers in the affected areas. “Our suppliers have played a big part in our ability to restore power to most customers so quickly, and we want to thank them for everything they’ve done and continue to do,” Hydro One spokesman Richard Francella said in an email to CTVNews.ca on Friday.
THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
As scientists warn that storms like the one observed last weekend will only get stronger, longer and more frequent due to the effects of climate change, questions have been raised about whether the existing grid infrastructure is ready.
“The network we designed for today has used data from the last 100 years,” electrical infrastructure expert Andrew Phillips told CTVNews.ca in a video interview Thursday. “Unfortunately, due to climate change, the past is not a good predictor of the future.”
But there are alternatives to the currently used wooden and composite poles, which could be more resistant to storms. Phillips, vice president of transmission and distribution infrastructure at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Institute for Electricity Research (EPRI), says Florida, which sees tropical storms or hurricanes on an annual basis, usually builds utility poles. of concrete or steel.
These poles can withstand significantly higher wind speeds than wooden poles, but Phillips says they are much heavier, more expensive and more difficult to install and repair.
Utility companies in many European and Asian countries have chosen to bury their power lines underground, but this option also has disadvantages in terms of costs and repairs.
“It’s expensive to do, but of course there’s a downside to it: if damage happens, it can take a long, long time to recover,” Phillips said.
But Phillips says we shouldn’t write off wooden poles completely, given that wood is a renewable resource with a much smaller carbon footprint than options made of concrete, steel or composite materials.
“Concrete poles, steel poles and even composite poles have a carbon footprint… while wooden poles are somehow carbon neutral because they grew in the ground like trees. So there is little impetus in Europe to go back to the tree poles because of carbon neutrality, “he said.
Phillips says design changes are likely to extend the longevity of wooden poles. EPRI researchers, for example, have developed a type of wooden hydrocolloid that could better withstand extreme weather events. In the event of a storm, only the cross frame will break or the wires will slip instead of breaking the pole itself.
“When a wooden pole is broken, it will take you 36 hours (to repair it). But if you find a broken cross arm at the top or a wire that just slipped at its base, it can take three or four hours. And so that can really speed up the recovery, “Phillips said.
Phillips says it is imperative that politicians start thinking now about how to build a climate-resistant electricity grid, whether designing stronger infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events or creating infrastructure that can be repaired. -fast.
“We really need to think about what the future will look like. Obviously no one has a crystal ball, but climate models are getting better and better,” he said. “We don’t have to wait until then to design an infrastructure that can withstand these events. We need to think now.”
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