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Scottish Power is investing in new research into identifying trees that may fail in a storm to help avoid future network disruptions.
The study – to be undertaken by Lancaster University, consultancy Adas and Scottish Power – was set up with a grant of £100,000 by the Natural Environment Research Council to develop a scientifically based method to predict how trees will behave in severe weather.
Scottish Power has contributed a further £20,000 to the project.
A statement from Adas said the new tree risk model will address one of the key issues facing Scottish Power – how to accurately predict which trees will fail in severe weather next to their overhead power lines, so that they can “improve the resilience of the network and keep the lights on”.
Adas head of environment Jon Abbatt said, “This [project] has far reaching consequences for the utilities industry. Essentially, it will help to take some of the guess work out of tree management which, in turn, will improve the effectiveness of network resilience programmes,” he added.
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