Challenge:
Building a reliable grid capable of delivering power to all customers requires utility companies, regardless of size, to place some utility poles in less-than-ideal locations. These may include:
- Rear easements
Residential backyards and commercial back lot locations can result in costly specialized equipment or cranes being required for installation. - Remote and challenging locations
Off-road locations can require expensive permanent or temporary roads to be constructed. - Wetlands
Swamps and wetlands can be challenging to access for pole replacement and new construction. - Rear easements
Residential backyards and commercial back lot locations can result in costly specialized equipment or cranes being required for installation. - Marine Installations
Some overhead lines are off-road only, or restricted to water access, significantly limiting the options for transporting materials and equipment to the installation location. - Adjacent to major thoroughfares
In areas where poles are located close to busy roads, a utility might not be able to close off multiple lanes to install single-piece poles.
Solution:
Composite poles from Resilient Structures can reduce the need for labor, equipment and time required for installation. The lower installed structure costs can save money in the short term and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership by minimizing the need for future replacement and additional installation costs.
Resilient Structures composite poles are lightweight and modular, allowing them to be:
- Carried by hand, minimizing the need for access by heavy equipment, and erected by hand using a gin pole. This keeps back lot installations safe.
- Nested transportation, which means more poles can be delivered to site on a single truck at a much lower cost compared to alternative longer, heavy weight structures.
- Brought to the project site and installed faster using lighter duty equipment, than traditional pole materials aiding in more efficient access for remote and challenging terrain.
- Transported by boat, ATV, argos, snow machines, and even hand dollies when transporting to remote locations.
- Installed vertically one module at a time, eliminating the need for cranes with wide outriggers which block multiple lanes and force traffic restrictions.
Evidence:
RS utility structures are commonly used in difficult to install applications across North America and abroad instead of heavier, more difficult to transport alternatives. In this case an Australian utility with 28,000 low voltage poles in residential and commercial backyards faced severe access limitations when replacement was necessary. Standard wooden, concrete or steel single piece poles were not a viable option.
The only multi-piece poles available for installation with a lifting beam were composite and steel. The lighter weight, non-conductive and non-corrosive composite material, along with the lower cost, made composite poles the clear choice for most of their replacement projects.
Pole replacement required only mini excavators and elevated work platforms, scaffolding and ladders and a lifting beam. The pole hole and pole base are installed by the mini excavator, alleviating the need for more substantial equipment.
More Evidence:
When designing a 22-mile 69kV transmission line, reliability was paramount. It would need to sustain 150 mph wind speeds and serve a critical customer and local economy micro-GDP commercial complex, which provided services and jobs for the community.
All types of materials including wood, steel, concrete and composite were evaluated for material resistance to UV, combustion, salt contamination, corrosive soils, insects, and birds. The Resilient Structures composite pole provided the best all-around solution.
Although the economic evaluation alone justified their use, the most significant advantage of Resilient Structures poles was the ability for the utility to install 100 percent of the poles internally with their composite trained crews, minimizing the need for specialized line crews and eliminating any additional equipment requirements beyond their existing fleet.
