Falling trees are a major cause of power cuts in our power distribution areas in the north of Scotland and central southern England.
We have an extensive tree cutting programme to ensure that during bad weather trees do not fall on power lines. One of our most effective tools is a Live Line Mechanised Harvesting machine. It allows us to quickly remove sections of trees that pose a risk to our power lines without having to turn off the electricity supply to homes and businesses.
Traditional harvesting methods can often take a number of days and require power lines to be switched off, which can result in customers either being off supply or the need for generators to be installed while the work takes place. The Live Line Mechanised Harvesting machine can cut down 200 trees a day whereas a team of four tree cutters can fell up to 20 trees a day.
Not many people know we need to cut down trees to keep the lights on but as this video shows there’s more to the energy industry than meets the eye.