PG&E Report on
Reducing Wildlife Interactions with Electrical Distribution Facilities

Publication Number: 600-00-030
Publication Date: October 1999

The executive summary, abstract and table of contents for this report are available below. This publication is available as an Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format Files. In order to download, read and print PDF files, you will need a copy of the free Acrobat Reader software installed in and configured for your computer. The software can be downloaded from Adobe Systems Incorporated's website.

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Executive Summary

This project had as its overall objective the reduction of wildlife interaction with electrical distribution facilities in Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)'s service territory. The project was divided into two phases: the development of a wildlife and powerline assessment tool and an evaluation of wildlife devices. Together they constituted significant progress toward the overall objective of reducing wildlife interactions with electrical distribution facilities in Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)'s service distribution territory.

Wildlife and Powerline Assessment Tool

This part of the project continued an earlier Research and Development (R&D) project to develop an information tool for electric distribution planners. Use of this information would give planners a better understanding of how existing circuits could be improved, and how new circuits should be designed, to reduce the chances of animal-caused outages and animal electrocutions.

The information tool was developed in response to a 1994 settlement agreement between PG&E and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that arose after citations were issued for the electrocution of several Swainson's hawks on transformer poles in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. Among several stipulations, the settlement agreement specified that PG&E should develop a risk model for its service area to indicate high-risk areas where birds are more vulnerable to electrocution.

In the earlier project, PG&E developed a prototype information tool, based on a geographic information system (GIS) called ArcView© (ESRI 1997), for a pilot study area (PG&E's Stockton Division). A GIS is a software application that provides a means to store, present, and analyze a combination of mapped features (spatial data) and the data associated with those features.

The prototype assessment tool included multiple themes of spatial information:

• A geographic land base composed of major and minor roads; water features, such as. rivers or lakes; city boundaries, parks and related administrative boundaries; and a shaded topographic relief background.
• PG&E facility spatial data, including a representation of electric distribution lines and equipment poles, such as transformers, capacitors, switches, fuses, and reclosers.
• Bird- and squirrel-caused outage information, including the ability to predict the occurrence of various wildlife species

The results of this earlier study were encouraging. Electric planners and estimators indicated that the assessment tool showed promise and would probably be used when planning new circuits and retrofitting old ones (PG&E 1999). They were particularly interested in the flexibility that this tool offered in displaying and analyzing outage information over a geographic land base. The major issues that remained at the close of the pilot study were how to provide multiple copies of the system throughout PG&E and keep all of the datasets current for those copies.

Objectives

• Implement the wildlife and powerline assessment tool developed in the pilot study throughout PG&E's service territory.
• Encourage use of the assessment tool by planners to better design new circuits in areas vulnerable to wildlife-caused outages.
• Ensure compliance with the settlement agreement between PG&E and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Outcomes

• The wildlife and powerline assessment tool is now available for use throughout PG&E's service territory.
• Planners are gradually discovering its usefulness in designing new circuits.

• The assessment tool provided the required risk model to comply with the settlement agreement between PG&E and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Conclusions

• The use of the wildlife and powerline assessment tool is increasing and allows planners, engineers, and others to:

• Because the assessment tool relies on an off-the-shelf application, it is readily available for use by other utilities.

Recommendations

Training

• PG&E's electric distribution planners and engineers should be trained in and exposed to the wildlife and powerline assessment tool.

Data Maintenance

• PG&E needs to allocate funds to support the data used by the wildlife and powerline assessment tool.

Technical Transfer to Other Utilities

• Public funds should be allocated to share the knowledge gained in this project with other utilities. Once utilities become familiar with the wildlife and powerline assessment tool, they can determine if it could be implemented in their service area.

Wildlife-Protective Devices

This part of the project addressed improvements in the installation of wildlife-protective devices on electrical distribution equipment and seeks further understanding of how such devices degrade in the field. Over the last few years, PG&E identified some add-on wildlife protective products that degraded in the field.

PG&E is divided into 18 separate divisions within seven areas to meet customer needs and maintenance requirements. PG&E modified hundreds of poles to increase phase separation and installed thousands of wildlife protective devices on distribution poles and related facilities in its service area.

Despite these efforts, wildlife-caused outages in the PG&E service area have risen at a rate of eight to nine percent annually over the last decade. Part of this rise may be attributable to the proliferation of local species, such as starlings or squirrels, which increase the risk of electrical outages on powerlines. Another contributing factor may be PG&E's greater emphasis on the investigation of all reported outages that reduces the number of unknown incidents.

In either case, there is a critical need for the investigation of devices and products installed in the field to ensure that remedial steps now being taken are appropriate and to identify products or installation procedures that may contribute to increased wildlife-related outages. The results are based on a preliminary sample of 253 poles in the PG&E service area.

Objectives

The initial objective of this study was to better understand the expected life span of the wildlife protective devices, installation techniques, and to recommend improvement areas, as appropriate. However, as the work progressed it became apparent that the devices were not always installed correctly. Therefore, and additional objective was added to examine the installation procedures for these devices.

• Improve installation procedures for Wildlife protective devices.
• Understand the expected life span of the wildlife protective devices, installation techniques, and to recommend improvement areas, as appropriate.

Outcomes

• Approximately 15 percent show a degree of degradation that is likely to reduce their performance.
• Approximately 65 percent of the poles observed had wildlife protective devices that were not installed according to manufacturer recommendations or PG&E Engineering Standards. Installations were incomplete or improperly executed

Conclusions

• Age and chemical composition are the leading factors affecting the degradation rates of the observed wildlife protective devices.
• Poles were found with wildlife protective devices not installed according to manufacturer recommendations or PG&E Engineering Standards.

Recommendations

Training

• Additional training sessions should be developed and improved to provide field crews with information on the safety, importance, use, and proper installation of add-on devices to reduce wildlife-created outages.
• A video should be developed demonstrating the relevance, proper use, and installation of all wildlife protective devices.

Installation Practices

• In areas with historical wildlife-caused outages and where birds concentrate, properly fitted wildlife protective covers and jumper insulation or insulated wire should be placed on all new equipment poles, particularly transformers, capacitors, reclosers, risers and sectionalizers before they leave the service yard.
• PG&E's installation standards should be followed more carefully.

Device Selection

• Wildlife bushing covers should be selected to fit the specific configuration of the equipment.
• Insulation wire covering should be purchased in rolls (not precut sections) to save cost and provide for cut to fit installation. Every effort should be made to cover jumpers completely, particularly those that pass directly over metal brackets or other horizontal surfaces where bushings are located.
• Electrostatic guards, such as the Guthrie Guard should be considered for use on all problem poles with bushing-mounted cutouts instead of the Lineway Protective cover.
• PVC-Based Eritech bushing covers should no longer be used within the PG&E service territory.

Maintenance Practices

• Material Problem Reports should be prepared for all cases of wildlife protective devices that fail in the field.
• All electric-line maintenance trucks should be stocked with a variety of wildlife protective devices to enable line personnel to install the devices on an as-needed basis. Although the trucks are often loaded with far more essential electrical hardware, at least a few such devices should be available for emergency or urgent installations.
• Poles modified with wildlife protective devices should be reinspected as a quality control measure after completion of the work.

Manufacturing Improvements

• Device manufacturers should continue to improve this product line. Further advances in material composition, design, and long-term aging are essential to the utilities' efforts to reduce wildlife-caused outages.

Abstract

This project supports the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program objective of improving the environmental and public health risk of California's electricity by improving current systems and technologies to prevent wildlife electrocutions caused by powerlines. The project aims to improve the reliability and quality of California's electricity by reducing wildlife-related power outages.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) evaluated the usefulness of a wildlife and powerline assessment tool that incorporates the electrical distribution network and several wildlife resource databases to reduce the risk for wildlife electrocutions and outages on selected circuits. PG&E developed a prototype assessment tool in 1997 to aid in predicting areas susceptible to wildlife interactions. Electric planners and engineers believe this tool could improve system reliability when used for planning new circuits or upgrading existing circuits. This project implemented the wildlife and powerline assessment toolthroughout PG&E's service area using a "map server" on the company's intranet. The project also analyzed devices that reduce or prevent bird- or animal-caused outages. PG&E evaluated the durability of specialized add-on insulation products and perch-deterrent products installed in the field. Preliminary laboratory teats conducted by PG&E during 1996-97 showed that some insulation products are susceptible to degradation caused by various environmental factors such as moisture, sunlight, and contaminants. Some materials deteriorated quickly in laboratory tests. PG&E recovered products that deteriorated in the field. This project examined the condition of various devices installed in the field as well as installation procedures.

Table of Contents

Preface

Executive Summary

Abstract

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Wildlife and Powerline Assessment Tool

3.0 Wildlife Devices

4.0 References

Appendices

Appendix I           Typical Computer Session Using the Electric Distribution Map Server

Appendix II          PG&E ñ Evaluating Wildlife Protective Devices 1998-1999 (Field Form)

Appendix III         Ratio of 14 Different Wildlife Protective Devices to Overhead Line Miles Found in Each Division

Appendix IV         Selected Photos of Degraded Wildlife Protective Devices

Appendix V          Selected Photos of Improperly Installed Wildlife Protective Devices

List of Figures

Figure 1. Map of PG&E Service Area with Division Boundaries

List of Tables

Table 1. Wildlife and Powerline Assessment Tool Data Layers

Table 2. Number of Map Server Hits by PG&E Business Unit by Month

Table 3. Wildlife Protective Devices Purchased by All Divisions

Table 4. Number and Type of Equipment Poles Inspected within Selected PG&E Divisions

Table 5. Number and Type of Wildlife Protective Device Found on Equipment Poles Inspected

Table 6. Number of Degraded Wildlife Protected Devices within Six Divisions

Table 7. Number and Type of Degraded Wildlife Protected Devices/Products Found on 253 Poles within Six Divisions

Table 8. Number and Condition of Degraded Wildlife Protective Devices Found on 80 Poles

Table 9. Land Use, Contaminants, and Solar Exposure Observed near Selected Poles with Degraded Wildlife Protected Devices

Table 10. Number of Poles Found with Incomplete or Improperly Installed Wildlife Protective Devices within Six Divisions

Table 11. Incomplete versus Improper Installations Found within Six Divisions

Table 12. The results of the pole inspections in these three additional divisions