Bird death on power lines
About the project
Problem
In Kazakhstan, tens of thousands of birds die every year on overhead power lines (OPL). Birds are killed by an electric shock, as well as by collisions with wires. In some cases, residential nests with clutches and chicks located on overhead power lines are destroyed by the personnel of companies that carry out maintenance of electrical networks.
The highest bird mortality rate on overhead power lines is caused by electric shock. At the same time, the most dangerous structures for birds are 6-10 kV overhead power lines. Typically, such lines are equipped with pin porcelain or glass insulators that fix the current-carrying wire in the vicinity of the metal traverse. When a bird touches the current-carrying wire and the conductive part of the ground wire (during rain or after rain, the wet pole conductance factor is added), an electric shock occurs for the bird (with negative consequences for it) and a short circuit in the operation of the overhead line (disturbance in the continuity of the power supply system).
Solutions
BRCC is trying to organize dialogues to solve these problems with the participation of all stakeholders, which includes various ministries, energy companies, the public, and NPOs.
Tasks
The developed package of changes to Regulatory Legal Acts (RLA) includes several key stages:
- Definition and legislative consolidation of the term “bird-hazardous overhead power line”;
- Legislative ban on the design and construction of new bird-hazardous overhead power lines (for newly designed and under construction overhead power lines);
- Legislative ban on the operation of bird-hazardous overhead power lines without the use of special bird protection devices (BPD);
- Definition and legislative consolidation of technical conditions for the use of BPD in the electrical sector;
- Legislative ban on the implementation of measures aimed at cleaning overhead power lines from bird nesting structures, including supports, traverses, and insulators, leading to the destruction of such nesting structures without the compensatory measures.
We have prepared for you a five-point memo describing what to do when you find the remains of a bird killed by electrocution or collision with a power line, as well as samples of appeals to government agencies to get them to take action to compensate for damage to wildlife, hold the owner of power lines responsible and take measures to prevent bird deaths.
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