Eliminating bird streamers as a cause of faulting on transmission lines

Abstract

Bird streamers have long been overlooked as an important faulting mechanism on transmission lines. After exhaustive analysis, bird streamers were identified as a major source of faulting on Eskom's transmission grid in South Africa. A national bird guard project was launched to eliminate the problem on selected lines. Preliminary results indicate that the project has succeeded in virtually eliminating bird streamers as a cause of faulting on the lines fitted with bird guards.