West Penn Power recently completed inspecting and performing maintenance on weather-sensitive equipment in preparation for winter.
“Our preparations do not end with inspecting electrical infrastructure and preparing our vehicles for winter operations,” John Rea, West Penn Power regional president, said. “Employee and public safety are our top priority. Ours is an unforgiving business, so we review cold-weather procedures and time-proven safety measures with our line workers and other field employees to help ensure not only their safety but that of our customers during winter.”
Completed work includes inspecting heaters for substation components, inspecting batteries used to power relays that sense faults on the network, inspecting motors that automatically operate switches to isolate these problems, using thermal-imaging cameras to detect hot spots on equipment, inspecting bucket trucks ensure they are safe to operate on snow-covered roads and in freezing temperatures, and reviewing cold-weather safety procedures with field employees.
In addition, helicopter patrols inspected approximately 1,700 miles of transmission lines to detect broken cross arms, failed insulators, damaged wires, and other hardware problems.
By the end of the year, nearly 4,600 total miles of tree trimming will be completed.
West Penn Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., serves approximately 725,000 customers in central and southwestern Pennsylvania.