The composite material used to manufacture RS poles absorbs significant elastic strain energy in high load situations which is designed to harden the grid and mitigate the threat of extreme weather events like tornadoes, hurricanes, wind bursts, and ice storms.
Case in point, in December 2021, a series of record-setting tornadoes tore through Western Kentucky. After the tornadoes had passed Hopkinsville, within the service territory of Pennyrile RECC, over two miles of 13kV wood distribution poles laid on the ground from wind load induced cascade failure. Back in 2012, Pennyrile had installed three RS composite poles near a substation, and it was those same poles that stopped three different cascading wood pole failure events, preventing further damage to the system and protecting critical substation components.
More than any other pole material type, you can count on RS composite poles to deliver resilient performance in critical grid hardening applications.
“When tornadoes came through the Hopkinsville, KY area on December 10, 2021, over 2 miles of Pennyrile distribution line was affected. A large quantity of wood poles on the main line were destroyed and wire was on the ground. RS composite poles were also on this line and did not fail – in fact they supported the downed line overload until the wood poles could be replaced and the wire raised.” — John Cross, Pennyrile RECC
