The Tale of Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, a quaint village in Kane County, is more committed than most to environmental preservation. This commitment stems from the village’s origins as a plot of land bought in 1953 with the buildings created around the natural contours without destroying a single tree.
Consequently, when a problem arose in 2006 with a 5,000-foot stretch of power lines along Sleepy Hollow Road, the prospect of trimming back some of the tree branches as a potential solution was not an attractive one.
“We had an ongoing problem with an overhead circuit that runs through the center of town,” said Jack Mehrtens, director of distribution engineering and design for Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), which serves more than 3.8 million electricity customers in Northern Illinois, including Sleepy Hollow. “The issue was poor reliability, as a result of vegetation issues”.
ComEd suggested a few different solutions. Placing the power lines underground was one such proposal, but this would have proven extremely cost-prohibitive. Total relocation of the lines was also brought up but was dismissed as well, primarily because it would have been a near-impossible task given the geography of the area and the overall system configuration. Sectionalizing was also considered, but was not applicable in this situation.
Finally, another option presented itself. ComEd contacted Hendrix Wire & Cable, one of the premier providers of high-quality overhead and underground power distribution products, and investigated the viability of Hendrix’s spacer cable product for this application.
The case for spacer cable was certainly compelling. Aerial spacer cable construction consists of high strength, messenger supporting covered conductors in a close triangular configuration. It has the mechanical strength to weather severe storms and the electrical strength to prevent faults caused by phase-to-ground or phase-to-phase contact, tree contact or animal contact. The compact configuration and covered conductors can tolerate momentary tree contact, which allows trees to grow much closer to the circuit before tree maintenance is required. Ultimately, spacer cable can greatly reduce power outages caused by various elements in the environment and would require far less tree trimming – a huge benefit in solving the Sleepy Hollow dilemma.
“Hendrix spacer cable seemed to present a solution that appeared acceptable from a reliability improvement standpoint, but also to the village,” said Mehrtens. “We would have to do minimal trimming in order to get the facilities installed.”
Given the importance of the project and residents’ concern for area trees, ComEd felt it was important to share its novel approach. Accordingly, ComEd staged a number of meetings with village officials and citizens, detailing the reliability and tree benefits of this approach.
After deciding to go the Hendrix spacer cable route – and informing by mail residents in directly around the installation area – Hendrix’s Bob Biddle also travelled to Sleepy Hollow several times to address various aspects of the project such as: determining what could be done to minimize the amount of new equipment that needed to be installed; assisting in the design phase; training the contractors who would actually install the product; and being on site to ensure that the work was executed properly.
Hendrix’s expertise was also firmly on display when it came to devising a plan for pole replacement. ComEd’s design scheme called for replacement each of the 24 poles along the nearly one-mile circuit. Hendrix, however, was able to modify the design; essentially, calling for replacement of every other pole and not attaching to the intermediate poles, which were topped at the secondary level after the open wire primary was removed. This allowed for the replacement of only 12 poles, just half of what had originally been envisioned.
The final version of the design was completed at the beginning of April 2007, and construction was completed at the end of June 2007, with Hendrix ensuring that all appropriate safety and performance standards were meticulously followed.
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