Impact of the specific fire load on the performance of power transmission lines

Transmission line outages caused by fires are frequent and affect the electric power supply to the population. Studying the factors that may aid in the understanding of this problem is fundamental to improve performance and guide future projects involving this type of installation. This study analyzed the forest inventories of vegetation adjacent to three Brazilian transmission line trunks and calculated their specific fire loads. The results were compared with the performance of these installations and revealed a high correlation (R2=0.9877) between the fire load and the number of transmission line outages, demonstrating the influence of vegetation on the operation of these installations.