Installation of bird protection measures on the utility poles (C3)

ACTION C.3: Installation of the bird protection measures on the utility poles within high voltage electricity transmission grid in Lithuania

 

The action aims reduce White stork mortality rate because of electrocution on the high voltage electricity transmission grid. According to the statistic of the associated beneficiary – Litgrid AB, in average more than 20 cases of discontinue of the electricity supply on the high voltage electricity transmission lines are registered annually. More than 70% of this statistic is related with July-August period, i.e. when White storks are flocking before the start of the autumn migration to the wintering ground. Besides, this is statistic covers the serious short circuits (if electricity supply discontinued) only, while they also automatically register much more cases of the short circuits without discontinuation of the electricity supply, which very likely are lethal for birds. It is a pity that there is no such registered statistic at the moment. Thus, seems that stork mortality rate within high voltage electricity lines is much higher than was officially estimated. This information gap will be filled during implementation of the ex-ante and post-ante monitoring action (D.2).

Above mentioned accidents happened if White storks are seating on the insulators of the high voltage electricity pylons (what they like to do quite often), and during moving own’s bowels, birds causing short circuits and getting dead because of electric shock The only possibility to reduce number of such mortality cases of White storks is to get out them from the dangerous places on the pylons of the high voltage electricity transmission lines. For this purpose, Litgrid AB has proposed installation of the special stuff over the insulators on the pylons – “wishbone” and “saucer” type installations (see attached pictures). “Wishbone” type installations don’t allow birds to make a touchdown on the insulators, while “saucer” type installation protect electric wires against the fall of the excrements on them. To get better effect both type of installations will be put up on the same place (some kind of double protection). The company had tested already the effectiveness of the proposed measures and got perfect results with almost zero number of the accidents caused by storks on the experimental electricity transmission lines. In that case, both White storks and the operator of the high voltage electricity transmission grid – associated beneficiary of the project Litgrid AB, benefit from the installed protective measures.

 

 

For one pylon of the high voltage electricity transmission line, 4 or 6 installations of both types are necessary depending of the pylon design. While planning the action, we calculated 5 both type installations on the White stork protection per one high voltage pylon. Basing on the demand – relevance to White storks and capacity of the high voltage electricity transmission lines operator Litgrid AB, was decided to install above mentioned White stork protection measures on the 1,200 high voltage electricity lines utility poles. Having in mind that in average there are 3 poles on the 1 kilometer of the high voltage electricity line, White stork protection measures will be put up at least on the 400 kilometers length of such lines. This covers about 13 % of the total length of the national high voltage electricity overhead transmission grid only. However, above mentioned White stork protection measures are relevant for the open agricultural landscape only, over which about 50% of the national high voltage electricity transmission grid is located. Besides, above described White stork protection measures – “wishbone” and “saucer” type, have been already installed on the part of the network for their efficiency evaluation purpose. Having in mind all those circumstances, during implementation of this (C.3) project action, almost half of the requirements on complete White stork protection against electrocution in Lithuania will be fulfill by the project. High volume the action was not possible to plan because of requirement on continuity electricity transmission and supply, while during the

installation work, high voltage electricity lines should be switch off. However, having in mind the demonstrative character of this action, its replication will be possible after the end of the project.

The action is planned to start during the first project year already, i.e. as soon as procurement procedures on the installation services and production of the White stork protection measures will be completed, and will be continued during whole project implementation period. The exact segments of the high voltage electricity lines will be selected during the implementation of the project action A.2 – Elaboration of national scheme for bird protection on the utility poles within high voltage electricity transmission grid in Lithuania. This information will be used for planning of the installation of White stork conservation measures – the sequence and pattern of the installation on the concrete segments, their accessibility, cost-effective logistics for installation and etc. However, already now is clear that implementation of this project action will cover all project regions around the country. This is why almost 10,000 km are planned for travelling. The average estimated costs and time for installation service were calculated basing on the experience of the Litgrid AB on the maintenance work of the overhead high voltage electricity lines. In reality, the number of crews working on the installation of above described White stork protection measures will be adjusted depending on the weather conditions and the progress of the project. The costs of consumables – “wishbone” and “saucer” type installations, were calculated by the engineers of the associated beneficiary and are based on the already procured goods.

The effectiveness of the installed protection measures will be verified during the implementation of the exante and post-ante monitoring scheme (Action D.2).