CPS Energy (San Antonio, Texas) serves a growing population of more than 673,000 electric customers. This growth requires our linemen to wear many hats when working new construction, ongoing maintenance and trouble calls. Add to this demanding schedule the repair and replacement of our aging wood-pole assets. On a day-to-day basis, it becomes a balancing act.

To balance the maintenance and construction demands, CPS Energy has taken a proactive approach by double-teaming when the job warrants more than one crew, and using innovative tools and equipment to expedite the job. The biggest demand currently is for wood-pole replacement.

Danger of Aging Wood Poles

Like other utilities that built out much of their systems back in the 1940s, our wood poles are aging and have become dangerous to climb. They are also more costly to replace when they break off in a storm or high winds. Wood poles also have an unpredictable effect on our customers. CPS Energy is constantly inspecting and treating these poles. For the safety of our linemen and to minimize the cost during our construction season, crews have been replacing, on average, up to 500 wood poles per month.

Advanced Preparation

When a pole is marked for replacement, it is assigned to the field crews to work into their weekly schedule. This is where the balancing act begins. Part of the linemen's proactive approach is advanced preparation prior to the actual pole change-out.

For example, several days prior to the pole change-out, our utility sends a crew to make sure the work site is clear for the pole crew and equipment. CPS Energy has an aggressive vegetation management program to reduce outages caused by vegetation, but in some cases, a labor crew may also spend a day or more before the actual pole setting — clearing the ground, sometimes removing fence sections and other obstructions in the area where the crews will work. New poles and other equipment are also delivered well in advance, and the new hole may be dug to further expedite the process.

On a good day, changing out a wood pole is a routine procedure, not unlike the job linemen across the country perform every day. But rear-easement poles present additional challenges, especially the added time it takes to de-energize and install protective grounds on the line during the line transfer. Unfortunately, many of the poles CPS Energy linemen replace are in backyard easements, which are inaccessible to large equipment.

The primary consideration of the crew is, how safely and quickly can it be done? Poles in hard-to-access areas can take three or four times as long to replace when the area is inaccessible to aerial and digger-derrick equipment. Rear-easement pole change-outs can take large chunks of time out of the linemen's schedule. Prolonged outages also can have an effect on customer service. To alleviate these bottlenecks, linemen take advantage of manpower and equipment on the change-over date to safely expedite the pole replacement.

Double-Teaming

In addition to scheduling planned outages and clearing the work site in advance, CPS Energy has found it more efficient to assign multiple crews to accommodate the various tasks in a timely manner. All of CPS Energy's linemen, as journeymen or apprentices, are trained to do any and all line distribution work procedures.

When the pole crew arrives to dig and set the new pole, additional crews are routinely on hand or may be added to the job to keep the linemen and other crew members safe. The addition of workers also ensures the scheduled outage will not go past the estimated outage period. At first glance, it may look like a lot of linemen for one job, but once the line is dead and grounded, everyone has a job to do.

CPS Energy Operations schedules planned outages and notifies the customers. It is the line crew foreman's job to coordinate the scheduled outage with System Operations and customers. The primary voltage lines and transformer, as well as the primary and secondary lines, are killed as scheduled.

The line crew installs a temporary disconnect switch at the closest location that is accessible by bucket to the outage area. With the switch confirmed as open, protective grounds are installed. The crew attaches grounding clusters with C-head ground clamps using pressure-type bolted terminals to properly ground the system neutral and the phases being worked on. These temporary ground clamps can be installed from a bucket truck or, in the case of inaccessible rear easements, using hot sticks.

As an added safety measure, once the line is dead and grounded, the crew that installed the grounds communicates to all crews involved to test for dead and begin their work. While one crew is stripping out the equipment on the old pole, another is setting the new pole.

Steel Poles Save Time

Planning ahead and double-teaming have become routine practices for field operations. To further expedite pole replacement in areas inaccessible by aerial and truck-mounted equipment, innovative equipment and tools have become a lifesaver, namely, steel poles and mini digger derricks. Steel poles are easier to manhandle in rear easements where truck booms are not accessible.

The average 40-ft steel poles CPS Energy is installing weigh about one-third of the weight of a comparable wood pole — 500 lbs each compared to an 1800-lb wood pole of similar length. The lighter steel poles also come in two sections.

An added benefit of steel poles is their low maintenance. The estimated life span of a steel pole is 60 to 75 years. They don't shrink with age, they are not susceptible to woodpecker and other animal damage, and they don't break in storms like wood poles do. Linemen also note that they require minimal tightening of hardware and other repairs compared to wood poles.

One of the unique aspects of steel poles is the climbing pegs. After trying several types of steel poles, CPS Energy linemen prefer what they call the “pickle pole.” This particular pole is manufactured with “bumps” on sides that secure the climbing pegs the linemen carry in a bag as they climb. On some steel poles, the climbing pegs are prone to twist when the lineman puts his weight on the peg. The bumps on the pickle pole give added support around the peg holes, which secure the pegs easily and with more stability.

As CPS Energy's system becomes more populated with steel distribution poles, linemen have learned to adapt to the change in equipment. Each truck carries bags of climbing pegs and longer ladders, which get the linemen part way up the pole before the pegs are required.

Accessing Hard-to-Reach Sites

Another lifesaver for backyard pole replacement has been the portable mini digger-derrick units called EZ Haulers, which are designed for hard-to-access work sites. Crews use the EZ Hauler in hard-to-get-to places to dig, set and move the transformer to the new pole. An 18-inch auger and telescoping boom are standard equipment on the backyard machines.

If a steel pole is being installed, the 8-ft to 10-ft base is set first. As a quick way to set the pole, CPS Energy has found that high-density polyurethane backfill material works the best. When the two-part liquid components are combined in the hole, the “foam” product expands in minutes to 10 times its original volume.

Once the new steel base is set, the top section of the pole is lifted into place, using the telescoping boom on the EZ Hauler. The operator lifts and inserts the top section of the steel pole onto the base using the weight and gravity of the pole to ensure the union of the two sections. Within minutes, the line crew can climb the new pole and begin the final dressing of the top for transfer of the line.

Our current fleet of EZ Haulers has a reach of 40-plus ft. Because of the popularity of these haulers, CPS Energy plans to buy additional mini digger derricks next year that will reach 45-plus ft.

Re-energizing the Primary

The first priority for crews working on both poles is to transfer the primary to the new pole and re-energize that line. If all goes as planned, most of the affected customers on the primary can be back on line in less than two hours. Once the primary is transferred and energized, the transformer from the old pole is transferred to the new pole. The EZ Hauler becomes even more important for this procedure in rear easements. Linemen work with transformers every day, but matching old hardware from the wood pole with new hardware can sometimes be a challenge. Another preparation issue is having the right mounting equipment in place. This eliminates any surprises that would hold up the final mounting of pole-top transformers on steel poles.

Once the equipment has been installed on the new pole, CPS Energy abides by joint-use agreements with the communications companies that also have cable on the poles. The crew is required to top off the old pole to make it easier for the cable and telephone line crews to move their lines. Some CPS Energy poles may have three or four contacts on the pole that, by agreement, are attached 41 inches below CPS Energy lines. Topping off the poles gives the other utility crews clearance to easily transfer and move their lines to the new pole.

Protecting Workers and Minimizing Outages

CPS Energy linemen change out, on average, 25 poles a day. This would be a near-impossible accomplishment were it not for the resourceful advanced planning and utilization of innovative equipment and tools. The overriding goal is to safeguard crews and to minimize how long the customer is out of service. These resourceful measures have helped to achieve those objectives.

On average, the total outage for customers affected by an outage for a rear-lot pole change-out is under four hours and the lineman's day runs much more smoothly thanks to the hours of planning and preinstallation site work of fellow linemen.

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Mike White, a journeyman lineman, is the superintendent of the Electric Service Department, Eastern Service District, for CPS Energy in San Antonio, Texas, where he has worked for 33 years. MEWhite@CPSEnergy.com