Fourteen percent power cuts due to small creatures like lizards in Telangana
Hyderabad: While many are wondering the reason for the power disruptions, the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) in its analysis found out that small creatures like Lizards, Iguana, Squirrels are also partly responsible for the disruption of power.
According to the TGSPDCL, nearly 14 percent of power trippings are caused due to animals as they are often getting electrocuted and dying after coming into contact with live wire at the metal clamp point and the earth point.
In a statement, the company said, “Reptiles like Lizards, Iguana, squirrels and other small animals like cats and birds often get electrocuted and die when they come into contact with live wire (Metal clamp) point and earth (Metal clamp) point on Horn Gap fuse insulator sets at Transformers, breakers and limbs. This also causes tripping of feeders, leading to power supply disruptions.”
What is the solution to this problem?
The Chairman and Managing Director Musharraf Faruqui has also come up with an unique idea, where he suggested a small modification, which is replacing a metal clamp with a specially designed fiber.
“Currently, metal clamps are used in HG fuse sets, breakers and limbs at various electrical equipment, which will be replaced with specially designed Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) silicon clamps. These clamps are non-conductive, so even if reptiles come into contact with them, they will not be electrocuted,” according to the TGSPDCL.
So, in this project, initially, around 3000 such FRP silicon clamps would be installed in areas with high tree density and reptile population.
The Chairman and Managing Director, Musharaff Faruqui hopes that this small change would be expected to benefit reptiles and also reduce power supply disruptions.
Meanwhile, the outages of power have become a major issue for the Congress government in Telangana, various measures are being taken in order to solve this issue, including the recent analysis of power outages.
Power outages due to Lizards, cats, pigeons, squirrels, & garden lizards to be reduced in #Telangana
14% of feeder trips are due to reptiles in TGSPDCL
These reptiles get electrocuted when they crawl over live points & earth points on HG fuse sets, breakers, and insulators… pic.twitter.com/hqELdE8LtT
— Naveena (@TheNaveena) August 24, 2024
