Small animals such as squirrels, snakes and birds can climb on equipment such as transformers and fuses and cause the equipment to either momentarily shut down or shut down completely.
The squirrel atop this pole is just inches away from disrupting power, and most likely causing equipment damage.
In 2008, animals were involved in 3,550 different and distinct incidents, resulting in 120,485 customers without power. When the amount of customers out of power is multiplied by the length of time they were out, customer minutes can be calculated. Over 7 million customer minutes occured in 2008 due to animals.
To help protect our frequently targeted equipment, we install guards on equipment that prevents some outages, such as squirrel guards. Many times, these animals are looking for a warm spot.
Wildlife protection equipment in a substation |