Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Improving the Life Span of Wooden Power Electric Poles of <i>Eucalyptus saligna</i>

Abstract

The present work deals with reducing greenhouse gas emissions through im proving the life span of wooden power electric poles of Eucalyptus saligna . Indeed, in Sub-Saharan African countries , Cameroon in particular, most of the power line networks are made of wooden supports and according to the Cameroon energy distribution company, wooden poles represent 32% of the causes of death linked to the state of the network. The company ’ s 2019 annual report indicates that 40,000 wooden poles were in critical condition and should be replaced. A significant number of mechanical failures affecting these sup ports have been observed. For example, on the HVA/LV power line “ D17 Nko - abang ” in Yaoundé in Cameroon, less than three years old, 10 (ten) cases of poles falling and/or breaking, due to their mechanical loading, were observed over a period of fewer than nine months, causing an average service stoppage for more than 11 hours and affecting an average of 3280 customers. These incidents lead to question s about how the supports are dimensioned and what load capacities they are designed to support. The aim of this work is , there fore , to suggest a method of dimensioning wooden poles hence reducing green - house gas emissions due to the deforestation by reducing the number of woo - den poles at risk to be replaced on Cameroon ’ s electricity distribution net work. And more specifically , to reduce the number of mechanical failures affecting the wooden supports observed by analyzing the current wooden supports with their loads and to make proposals for improving the actual dimensioning me - thods. From the study carried out, it appears that 449 out of 845 supports, i.e ., 53% needed to be replaced or monitored because they support the nominal forces ranging from 85% to 150% of their admissible limit and proposals have been made to improve their dimensioning.