B.C. Hydro Embarks on Power Pole Replacement Plan
Pole replacement crew at work. Photo courtesy BC Hydro
Prince George, B.C. – B.C. Hydro is preparing to replace several power poles in Prince George which have come to the end of their lifespan.
Media Relations spokesperson Mora Scott says the lifespan of a wooden utility pole is 40 to 50 years, and more than 20% of B.C. Hydro’s 900,000 wooden poles around the province have been in service for more than 40 years. She adds that over time the poles weaken due to weather, insects and wildlife. Crews check the poles regularly and when their strength no longer stands up, they’re replaced.
Scott says 244 wooden power poles in Prince George will be replaced with new wooden poles over the span of several months. She says the work will begin once weather and ground conditions permit. Pole replacements may require power to be disconnected but the public will be advised of any scheduled outages.
A total of 12,000 wooden utility poles will be replaced throughout B.C. during the course of this year.
Comments
And what happens to the poles they remove?
At that Speed it will take you 15 years to replace the 20% of 900000 Poles!
And how much did you spend replacing all the Meters ?
New emails from a California utility show collusion with the maker of the smart meters that show they knew of health effects from the meters and problems of over billing that they hide from the public. Pretty damning stuff being released through freedom of information access as a result of lawsuits down there. It’s painting a picture of suvailence at any cost.
If the poles they remove still have sound sections in them they’re cut back and used for tie back poles, also sometimes for stub poles to make temporary repairs in keeping another damaged pole standing. Saw the Hydro pole crew replace the power pole the transformers that feed our business hang on about a year ago. Those guys sure know their business, and earn whatever they’re being paid. Talk about professional teamwork, the whole operation being done while the high voltage transmission lines up top were still live. Something like 60,000 volts going through them. Not one wasted move, they had the whole thing, what Hydro had told us might be a two day job, wrapped up in less than a day.
I’ll agree with you, Socredible, the Hydro line crews are generally quite professional.
But why are they making a press release about replacing wooden hydro poles?
They do that sort of thing all the time, and have done for many years.
metalman.
Possibly because they’re way behind on pole replacements, Metalman. The one our transformers were hanging on was just a rotted out shell. A wonder they didn’t come down on their own, quite a lot of weight there with three of them on one pole. Hydro’s crew foreman told me it should’ve been changed long ago, in fact it was over a year from when they first said it needed changing til when they actually came to do it.
Apparently lots of others they changed were in as bad or worse shape. I don’t think they would ever have even realised it needed changing if a truck with a Hiab-type crane on the back of it hadn’t come in our driveway, had its boom go up all on its own, and snagged the power line into our plant. Pulled the wire right off the pole on our property, but fortunately didn’t break it, and Hydro’s pole over on quite an angle from where it was supposed to be.
Hydro’s pole crew came up to make sure it was safe for the driver to lower his boom down, and then set things back where they were supposed to be. That pole was substantially less than 40 years old, and even though heavily creosoted it was done for inside. New one’s bigger and been marinated in CCA, a good Douglas Fir. Pretty hard to tell what the old one was. Don’t think they would be able to salvage anything out of it, and how they dispose of them when they’re like that, I really don’t know.
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