Vegetation Management
Preserving Nature
The infrastructures that make up the public service electricity networks are part of the concessions awarded to E-REDES.
At the different voltage levels, safety regulations determine that E-REDES has the duty to maintain and ensure the conservation of the electricity lines, based on regular and methodical inspection, adequately monitoring compliance with safety distances within the protection zone.
Whenever inspections detect a breach of the safety distances of power lines in relation to vegetation, E-REDES alerts owners who have a duty to ensure that the trees on their land do not interfere with the operation of power lines, supporting the intervention, if necessary, to ensure that it takes place safely.
The careful and judicious management of the forest is essential for the safety, welfare and protection of the population.
In the legislation for the protection of forests against wildfires, it is considered that cleaning and removal of vegetation can reduce the effects of wildfires, passively protecting the electricity grid and isolating potential sources of ignition.
In this sense, and in the scope of the National Forest Fire Protection System, E-REDES has the duty to establish fuel management bands next to high and medium voltage power lines, in strategic locations previously defined in the Municipal Forest Fire Protection Plans, with the owner obliged to allow access to the property.
The development of innovative solutions has been, along with the performance in the field, one of the priorities of E-REDES.
For this reason, we have invested in an increasingly innovative model in vegetation management, especially in the inspection of power lines in forest areas, which is now mostly done through the use of drones and helicopters to ensure the reliability and safety of the power grid.
The study protocol with the ISA from 2019 to 2021 focused on fuel management associated with the electricity grid: functions, limitations and possibilities, analysing the efficiency of linear structures and mosaic structures to be used by E-REDES in its operations in the territory, and comparing the performance of fuel treatment in bands and patches using fire behaviour simulations.
The partnership with ForestWISE has allowed us to present an extensive edaphoclimatic characterisation of the areas where compatible occupation is possible, by municipality, and of the economic activities potentially related to the use of the species indicated.
The aim of this protocol is to promote the construction of biodiversity support structures using the wood from large trees felled during the E-REDES vegetation management actions and the promotion of these structures as environmental education tools among the local population.
Use of drones to complement the current helicopter inspections, carrying out visual, thermographic, and lidar technology inspections, in order to substantially increase and innovate the annual inspection capacity of the HV and MV lines.
A project that aims to incorporate innovative solutions for vegetation management, using drones, satellite images, computer vision, machine learning, automate processes integrated with a corporate architecture; and implement analytical and predictive models.
Analytical and predictive model of vegetation growth, taking into account external factors such as: weather conditions, altitude, proximity to the coast, and asset severity model.
A joint Responsibility: Report
The careful and judicious management of the forest is essential for the safety, well-being and protection of us all. If you detect the proximity of vegetation to an overhead line, with the risk of possible contact, please do not hesitate to report this situation to us through our E-REDES digital app or the Digital Counter, in the option Risk Situation - Proximity of trees to overhead lines.
