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Birds on wires - should 11kV lines be vertically stacked or horizontal?

mapj1
I saw     this article    where birds on an HV line were causing the interrupters to fire,

And I wondered if, as well as what happens to the cooked birds, if this would be better or worse if the wires were vertically stacked instead of horizontally - round here on some very exposed hillsides with wind problems, the lines are vertically stacked to prevent them swaying into each other. Equally, the problem may be birds by-passing the insulators rather than wire to wire contact.

04d5f4a0ee5c16465a54a1cc9b2c2bdf-huge-bird-line.png
  • 0
    I saw the news article. In this particular case I feel that the answer could be to replace the cross pieces with longer ones so as to increase the spacing between conductors.

    This sounds a simple job and should avoid future problems.

    Starling numbers are in decline, and a more generous conductor spacing would reduce deaths of these birds since I presume that each fault kills some of the starlings.
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    I didn't see birds falling to the ground - the article suggests that the problem is the wires swaying and making contact. Quite remarkable! Our starlings in the soffits didn't come this year - perhaps they were socially distancing? ?


    P.S. recommend the film!
  • 0
    Whilst on holiday in Sri Lanka our guide pointed out lots of charred fruit bat carcasses on vertically stacked power lines, when they roost upside down they are just long enough to short two lines
  • 0
    I have just seen the video on the news.  When the birds take off all together as they are want to do, the cables sway alarmingly to the degree that is not surprising that they trip the interrupters.  I didn't see any dead birds, they all seemed well clear of the cables when they were swaying.

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