Warning about violations of power grid safety corridors as the storm season approaches

There are many violations.

The power grid safety corridor is a safe distance to protect power grid works and civil works of the people. Although there have been some unfortunate incidents, violations of power grid safety corridors in the province still occur due to limited awareness of some people.

Nghe An is currently managing and operating the 110kV power grid with nearly 884 km of lines; the medium voltage power grid is over 7,129 km long with 167 lines. Up to now, there are 32 violations of the high voltage power grid safety corridor in the province, including: 14 cases of houses and constructions violating the high voltage power grid safety corridor; 18 locations violating the phase-to-ground distance. In particular, there are pole spaces with trees inside and outside the power grid safety corridor in districts and towns that are very difficult to handle. In addition to the above-mentioned problems, there are still potential dangers, such as people catching birds at power stations and power poles; fishing, flying kites, cutting trees, digging soil near high voltage power lines still occurring, leading to the risk of violations causing accidents for people. In 2022 and the first 6 months of 2023, there were 4 incidents that killed 2 people and seriously burned 3 people.

The main violations include building houses and works that violate the safety corridor of the high-voltage power grid; Dumping soil and rocks, gathering materials, and leveling the ground, reducing the phase-to-ground distance compared to the original design of the power line, not ensuring the safety of the power line. Using mechanical means of construction under the power line violates the safety distance of electric discharge, threatening the risk of human accidents and power grid incidents...

In addition, there is also the situation of people replanting trees in the area or near the power grid safety corridor after being compensated for clearance; Changing the type of crop from short-term crops with low height (sugarcane, fruit trees...), low economic efficiency to tall trees (acacia, eucalyptus...), with the risk of touching the power lines, causing incidents and safety risks.

In Thanh Chuong district, many areas in Thanh Son, Ngoc Lam, Thanh Duc, Hanh Lam, Thanh Thinh, Thanh Huong, Thanh Thuy, Thanh Mai, Thanh Lam communes... have trees inside and outside the corridors that are at risk of causing many incidents. Mr. Tran The Phuc - Deputy Director of Thanh Chuong Power Company shared: Currently, there are more than 25,000 trees of all kinds violating the power line corridor, with a length of 75 km/432 km of total power line management, of which 90% are raw acacia trees. Since the beginning of the year, Thanh Chuong Power Company has coordinated with local authorities of some communes such as Thanh Son, Ngoc Lam, Thanh Huong and the Youth Union to handle 30.3 km/75 km of the remaining lines that need to be handled.
"It is worth mentioning that many forest areas have trees that violate the power grid, but the forest owners are in other provinces and cities, so coordination in handling the problem is difficult, and the person hiring them to look after them cannot make a decision," Mr. Phuc shared.

Surveys show that violations of the safety corridor of the power grid are alarming in most localities, especially in mountainous districts. According to annual statistics, the rate of incidents of trees violating the safety corridor of the high-voltage power grid leading to incidents on the power grid accounts for over 35% of the total number of incidents. In particular, power lines account for a high rate of incidents due to trees violating the corridor on the power grid in mountainous districts such as: Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Anh Son, Tan Ky, Thanh Chuong.

With the special nature of Nghe An’s weather, entering the rainy and stormy season, incidents caused by trees violating the safety corridor of the power grid often increase when there are heavy rains and whirlwinds at the beginning of the season and continue throughout the rainy season. This is an issue that needs to be addressed before this year’s rainy and stormy season.

Strong solution needed

These shortcomings occurred because some localities were not resolute in imposing administrative penalties on intentional violations, leading to people still planting timber trees and fast-growing trees in the power grid safety corridor, despite being compensated and supported according to regulations. People arbitrarily exploited trees near high-voltage power lines but did not notify the operating management unit for guidance and coordination in implementing safety measures (although the Electricity Company had announced to post contact phone numbers on trees at risk of falling onto the power line during exploitation), causing power grid incidents.

Meanwhile, land allocation and construction permits for housing projects in some localities have not paid attention to existing power grid projects, have not deducted the power grid safety corridor, or have not set conditions to limit the ability to use land, the space between the conductor and the construction, and housing. In many places, land leveling for traffic infrastructure projects has changed (reduced) the safety distance between the conductor and the ground compared to the original design status, leading to violations of the safety distance according to regulations. Project owners and homeowners do not implement safety measures or do not move power lines and transformer stations away from the housing and residential areas before project construction, causing safety risks.

Discussing this issue, many people believe that, in addition to people's lack of knowledge about electrical safety, there is also a cause from the propaganda, warning and punishment of violations that are not strong enough and have not been effective.

Mr. Le Quang Thanh - Deputy Director of Nghe An Power Company said that in order to effectively implement the management of power safety corridors, contributing to reducing incidents, ensuring safety for people and providing stable power supply, Nghe An Power Company continues to direct the units managing and operating high-voltage power grids in the province to regularly inspect and protect the power grid safety corridors, in order to detect new trees, houses, and constructions planned to be built along the power transmission line corridors that may violate the power grid safety corridor. Coordinate propaganda and mobilize people and tree owners to cooperate with localities and agree to let the management and operation units clear trees inside and outside the line corridors, ensuring the power grid safety corridor according to regulations...

The Deputy Director of Nghe An Electricity Company also requested that authorities at all levels, before granting land and construction permits, pay attention to the safety corridor of the power grid according to Decree No. 14/2014/ND-CP dated February 26, 2014 and Decree 51/2020/ND-CP dated April 21, 2020 of the Prime Minister, and at the same time, create conditions for approving land allocation for medium and low voltage lines that currently do not have or do not have complete legal documents for power projects due to historical reasons.

In order to ensure the safety of the power grid corridor, from April 15 to October 31, 2023, the Department of Industry and Trade also established a team to inspect the safety of the power grid corridor, led by Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Department. Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said that the team focused on inspecting violations of the power grid safety corridor, and the implementation of high-voltage power grid corridor protection work at some power plants under Nghe An Power Company. Thereby, proposing measures to handle, minimize, prevent and stop new violations arising in the protection of the safety of high-voltage power grid works in the province.

Recently, at a meeting with the Steering Committee for Electricity Development in Nghe An, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Le Hong Vinh, suggested that the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns strengthen state management of construction order in the area. Coordinate with the grid management unit on measures to ensure safety for power lines and safety during construction and renovation of works in the high-voltage grid safety corridor according to regulations. The authorities of districts and towns are responsible for allowing organizations and individuals to change the purpose of planting annual crops to perennial crops, ensuring that they do not affect the safety of the high-voltage grid; handle according to their authority or coordinate with relevant sectors and units to inspect and record violations of the high-voltage grid safety corridor...