HOW WOULD I BENEFIT FROM HAVING AN EMERGENCY RESTORATION SYSTEM (ERS) FOR MY TRANSMISSION LINES?

With the more and more unpredictable nature behaviour, the question is not if you might or not have a power failure in your grid but if you will be ready to face it when it will happened. The benefits of the ERS are much more important than its initial cost. In fact, since the restoration time is significantly reduced, the cost of the system could be absorbed with the savings made in one single event.

IS EMERGENCY PURPOSE THE ONLY USAGE OF THE ERS TOWERS?

No.

As the towers are extremely easy to install / uninstall, some owners of grids are using the towers for maintenance, for temporary needs or for a tightly scheduled projects.

Some grid owners possess also telecom towers and / or have wind farm projects in which the same tower material could be used to create an emergency telecom tower or an anemometric tower.

WHY ALUMINIUM IS USED AS THE MAIN MATERIAL OF THE TOWER?

Unfortunately, problems do not always happened in favourable conditions... In many cases Emergency towers are required to be installed in remote areas where the use of heavy machinery is not possible. In those kinds of events, time usually means big money so you want to get there and put the power back as fast as possible.

The aluminium T6-6061 allows high structural capacities while being very light, enabling the linemen to easily carry the equipment even by foot and install the required towers.

ALUMINIUM IS MORE EXPENSIVE IN COMPARISON TO STEEL?

Yes.

In fact, aluminium is relatively more expensive than steel. But on the long run, the gain in speed of reaction, the virtually maintenance free and the estimated 50 years of life span (with unlimited numbers of assemblies / disassemblies), it becomes cheaper to own an aluminium tower.

WHAT IS THE STANDARD DELIVERY TIME?

SBB usually keeps a good inventory of the ERS material. However, some components required for your specific needs, such as the insulators, may take some weeks to prepare. SBB can usually offers to ship the load in several shipments. Please contact factory to procure current manufacturing delays.

WHAT IS THE MODULAR DESIGN CAPABILITY?

The modular design can be thought of as “LEGO Blocks”. Because of its universal design, the same mast section can be used in any configuration and any voltages ranging from 69 kV to 735 kV to fit all your needs. The section’s standard size is about 3m (10’) and 135 kg (300lbs.), but it can be cut down to fit your specific weight criteria.

WHAT TYPES OF ANCHORS ARE USED AND IN WHICH CONDITION?

There are many anchors that exist in the market. Some are described below. SBB can guide you for the selection of the appropriate anchor system(s) that will fit your needs. Additional information is available in our downloadable anchor summary (pdf).

• Temporary anchor
  Specially designed by SBB to quickly erect the tower. Easy to remove and re-use.
  
• Screw anchor
  Closely related to the type of soil. No digging required for this quick installed and re-usable anchor. Specific equipment required for installation.
  
• Anchor plate
  Effective in any soil which can be excavated. High tension capacity. Excavator required.
  
• Manta Ray
  Suitable for most granular soils. No digging required for this quick installed and re-usable anchor. Specific equipment required for installation.
  
• Rock anchor
  Quick and easy to install for this high tension capacity and re-usable anchor.
  
• Concrete anchor
  Used as a temporary or permanent anchor.

HOW IS THE MATERIAL SHIPPED TO THE CUSTOMER?

SBB usually ship FOB Montreal or CIF nearest port but can also ship in accordance with the other Inco terms 2000.

WHAT IS THE LIFE SPAN OF USAGE FOR THE TOWER?

The estimated life span is 50 years.

WHAT MAINTENANCE IS REQUIRED?

No maintenance is required (no worry about corrosion with aluminium). Only good care of the sections and storage of the components is required.

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL SAVINGS WHEN BUYING AN ERS?

See case study of potential money saving for different applications

WHAT IS THE INSTALLATION TIME AND TEAM NEEDED TO ERECT AN SBB TOWER?

Installation time of a 30m high tower is 3 hours using a team of 6 linemen.

WILL SPECIAL TRAINING BE NEEDED?

SBB has put together an 8 day training program offered to clients. It is a thorough overview of 5 days for field installation methods and 3 days for software validations. In this course, the client will have a chance to practice on his own on the actual configurations specially designed for his needs.

WHY DO I NEED THE SOFTWARE?

A crucial step in the planning process is to validate the typical configurations for the specific emergency parameters that occurred (such as weather loads, span, line angle, elevation of the terrain, type of conductors, etc.). The software will enable the client to perform such validation before giving the green light for the installation on site.

WHAT CONFIGURATION AND HOW MANY TOWERS DO I NEED FOR MY GRID?

A simple form is to be filled out by the client for each line in which potential maintenance or urgency may arise. The form is then sent out to SBB and a project engineer will make all the necessary checks to come up with the required ERS configurations and the related Bill of Material for the specified cases given by the client.

SBB TOWERS COMPLY WITH WHICH STANDARDS?

The SBB towers comply with IEEE-1070-95 standard for testing emergency tower. The design of the ERS towers can be made in order to comply with any typical transmission lines standards.