We humans don’t like a disruption in our daily routines. When the power goes out, we look for candles and flashlights worry about the milk spoiling in the fridge but nowadays due to pandemic we most importantly wonder how we’ll access the internet?
But it’s not hackers and terrorists that are the biggest threat to power and telecommunication sectors rather it is feathered creatures, squirrels, rats and other rodents!
Despite remarkable development and technical innovation, one very basic yet problematic issue of power outage persists because of these critters.
But what attracts birds to human-strung wires, even when there are plenty of tree branches to perch on?
The utility lines provide a bird’s eye view of prey. Also, wires give a staging area when birds are ready to migrate. Insectivorous birds capture their food while flying, so they always hang out on power lines to spot tasty meals as they pass by. Since there is no vegetation to cover the view or hide prey, those wires may be more attractive perches than trees.
Birds are responsible for nearly a quarter of outages in the U.S.
– December 2015 report by T&D World
Birds cause various disruptions and damages. They collide with overhead structures and conductors, contaminate insulators and machinery, and cause significant damage to facilities which leads to service interruptions to consumers. Sometimes the outage can happen when birds fly into equipment like Swans, Pelicans, Cranes, they have large wings and heavy bodies. Also, ducks fly at low altitudes but their high-speed flight may cause a power outage.
Not the only outage is caused when birds are flying but their feces, nesting, and attracting predators can also result in a threat to these utility lines.
Their feces can cause buildup on power lines or insulators which may cause power disruption. Birds prefer utility poles to mate and raise their young’s which attracts the predators to climb over the top of the utility pole.
Let’s have a look at incidents where a power outage is occurred by these pesky creatures.
Droppings from thousands of roosting ravens cause power outages near Roundup
United States | February 08, 2021
During the winter of 2016/2017, Northwestern Energy began experiencing frequent and perplexing simultaneous power outages along its largest capacity transmission lines, running from Colstrip, Montana to Washington State.
After each outage, crews patrolled the lines but could not find a root cause. Large transmission lines can periodically fault through flashovers precipitated by lightning, fire, ice, and line galloping during high wind events, but none of these common causes of power outages could be linked to the Montana transmission line failures.
Ravens are a challenge for energy companies because their numbers. Flocks can number in the thousands. They roost on power lines and leave droppings on insulators. When the dried droppings combine with fog or light rain, the mixture conducts electricity and creates a bridge along the insulator “skirts,” which causes a fault on the line. It creates the perfect opportunity for outages.
Thousands of ‘dancing’ starlings are causing power outages
Scotland | December 18, 2020
Masses of starlings have been jangling power lines in Airth, causing brief blackouts around sundown. An engineer with Scottish Power witnessed a colossal flock in a midair ‘dance’ before landing on the cables en masse. The tiny birds’ collective weight causes the cables to touch, short-circuiting the power for a few seconds at a time.
Starlings typically form murmurations in the early evening in fall and winter as they ready to roost for the night. Their large numbers provide warmth and ward off falcons and other predators.
Airth, a town of about 1,700 in the central Lowlands of Scotland near Falkirk, has been plagued with numerous outages.
The flock was causing the cables to sway up and down every time they landed and took off; leading to brief service interruptions to about 50 homes in the area, almost always around sunset.
The outages typically only last a few minutes but have been frequent, and some caused greater damage that led to longer periods without power.
Along with this, a bird was blamed for a widespread power outage in Watertown, South Dakota. Businesses, including one healthcare provider; government offices, including the Watertown Police Department; schools; traffic signals; and people in the area were all affected by a bird in a transformer.
The above incidents proved that little feathered creatures can cause big headaches for utility companies and consumers. They are responsible for thousands of outages and millions of dollars in outage-related damage each year.
It’s a fact of life that Mother Nature is unpredictable but you can have your plan before accidents happen!
Anti-perching wires, spikes, and trapping have all been used to keep birds away but none of them are effective. To prevent the huge financial loss spent on the maintenance of these facilities, a reliable solution is needed.
There is a solution with C Tech Corporation to keep the birds away from perching and roosting.
Combirepel™ Bird repellent gel lacquer is specially designed to prevent birds perching and roosting.
It is available in the form of concentrate gel lacquer. The product causes the bird’s pain receptors associated with taste. Some birds use their sense of smell through which they recognize that the product is a threat. This repellent evokes a physiological effect that the birds associated with a sensory cue and then learn to avoid it.
The product is anti-corrosive and water-resistant and has no effect of UV light on it. The product is transparent and is compatible with most of the surfaces which are easy to apply.
Our Bye-Bye Birdie spray is a ready-to-use spray and can be sprayed directly on wires and cables or transformer boxes where birds roost to prevent a power outage.
Thus, using the bird’s sensory mechanism, we can get rid of them without causing them any physical harm.
Also, Rodrepel™ can be used to combat rodent nuisance in power sectors. It is a rodent and animal repellent that works on the principle of aversion. Its mechanism is tried-and-tested and is proven to be effective against rodents.
The product is compliant with RoHS, RoHS2, RoHS3, REACH, APVMA, NEA, EU-BPR, and FIFRA exempted.
Contact us at technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com to keep the pests away.
Also, visit our websites:
1] http://www.ctechcorporation.com/
2] http://www.rodrepel.com/
3] http://www.termirepel.com/
4] http://www.combirepel.com/
Follow our Facebook pages at:
1] https://www.facebook.com/Combirepel-411710912249274/
2] https://www.facebook.com/Termirepel-104225413091251/
3] https://www.facebook.com/Rodrepel-120734974768048/
Follow us on our Twitter pages at:
1] https://twitter.com/rodrepel
2] https://twitter.com/termirepel
3] https://twitter.com/combirepel