To prevent accidents, DTEK Kyiv Regional Power Grids has cleared more than 4,000 km of power grids from trees
Potentially dangerous areas are identified when inspecting the lines. Further, appropriate schedules are developed to arrange power lines clearing in all areas of the region. The company publishes these schedules on the website and notifies local authorities (district, city, rural, settlement councils, etc.). To keep the pruning process safe, the line is disconnected. For each settlement and street, the date and time of power outage is determined. Information about the reason and duration of the outage can be checked on the company's website in the ‘No Power?’ section. You can also find out about the disconnection using our "Merezhi Online" mobile application (the app is available in the AppStore and Google Play Market) or through private messages on the DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids Facebook official page.
“DTEK is a conscious company that cares about its customers and does everything to ensure that their homes always have light. Falling trees and branches touching wires are the main causes of shutdowns. First of all, by clearing the routes of overhead lines, we take care of the people safety and a reliable power supply. The lines will be protected from wire breaks and short circuits in bad weather, and residents of cities and villages will be safe and will have electricity. This year, the company's specialists plan to clear more than 3,500 km of overhead lines that go through forests and fields,” says Vitalii Shaida, DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids CEO.
In total, 4333.4 km of overhead lines were cleared across Kyiv Region in 2020. 3783.6 km of them are 10-0.4 kV lines. The remaining are 549.8 km of 35 kV and 110 kV high-voltage lines, which power the entire cities and regions. A short video review of how the work is done in winter can be found here.
Info: according to the "Rules for the Electric Networks Protection", it is prohibited to plant trees under power lines. In order to avoid accidents, the company asks residents of the private sector not to plant tall trees, as well as timely prune them near the lines. Owners or land users should clean up green spaces. If tree branches are closer than 1 meter to the 0.4 kV line, or if branches hang over the wires, or if trees are dangerous and may fall and damage power lines during the bad weather, they must be cut. To do this, the owner of the land should submit a request to DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids for disconnection, agree on the time and only then cut trees within a radius of at least one meter from the power line.
DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids is obliged to disconnect the overhead lines at the request of owners of green spaces to allow safe cutting of trees. However, the owner himself prunes the trees. Pruning should be well arranged within a period clearly defined by the company. For each section of power lines (settlement), the shutdown time is determined. At that time, the admission of people to the protected area of 0.4kV power lines located within the enterprises, facilities, organizations, household yards and farms is organized. This is done so that owners can prune near power lines in their yards without risking their health and life.