Timing of Wood Pole Replacement Based on Lifetime Estimation

Lifetime estimation of power system components is an important basis for e.g. maintenance and replacement decisions at the power utilities. Considering the large number of wood poles in the power system infrastructure a proper asset management is very important for controlling the risk exposure the utilities are facing. Poor management due to lack of information about pole condition may over time lead to a substantial accumulation of costs due to repairs and customer interruption costs. To have proper knowledge about design, load, environment and properties of the wood pole is important in order to get a good estimate of a component's reliability. The paper describes a method for lifetime estimation of wood poles of pine treated with creosote, and it is demonstrated how this information can be utilised in asset management of poles, i.e. finding the most economical replacement timing in a network