FREDERICTON — The skies can be clear and the winds light when suddenly the power goes out in New Brunswick homes and businesses.
At a rate-increase hearing last month, a utility official pointed a finger at unexpected culprits for these "blue sky" outages: soaring raptors and bushy-tailed squirrels.
Squirrels can cause outages by scampering across equipment and getting electrocuted, either at the top of a utility pole or inside a transformer. "They are raptors, so going on the top of a power structure that is tall, gives them an advantaged viewpoint where they can perch and look for prey," she said. The birds, especially fledglings, can also fly into transmission lines, getting electrocuted and causing an outage in the process, she added.
Sometimes, del Valle said, osprey droppings make contact between two conductors of a transmission line, creating an arc that produces an outage. Droppings of smaller birds can also contaminate lines to the point where the insulation becomes ineffective, causing power outages, she said.
NB Power Utility Pole Power Outages Del Valle Nick Lund Phil Landry Raptors
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