Trees grow, powerlines don’t – think about what you plant underneath them

Powercor is encouraging people to plan ahead this spring by carefully selecting the right trees and location when planting near powerlines, helping keep the electricity network safe and reliable for everyone.

Plants growing too close to powerlines are a safety risk and can cause power outages and fires.

Powercor’s Head of Vegetation Management Ayce Cordy said the simplest solution was to avoid planting trees under powerlines altogether.

“We work year-round managing trees and plants growing near powerlines to keep the network safe,” Mr Cordy said.

“A tree may look small now, but many species will grow far taller than the required clearance between branches and powerlines and could become a major safety hazard.

“It’s not just trees planted directly under powerlines either, in some cases we need to have four meters between powerlines and trees and consider species being planted to the side of powerlines too.

“By choosing the right trees to plant near powerlines now, we can prevent future issues occurring and reduce the need to conduct heavy pruning later. It’s about planning for growth and safety.”

Powercor runs the largest vegetation inspection program in the state, with three helicopters flying and scanning the entire network using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology each year.

LiDAR measures the distances between trees and the powerlines and informs cutting teams where and when to cut. We assess more than 13.5 million trees each year with more than 350 cutting staff working year-round to cut more than 50,000 spans (the distance between two poles) to keep the community safe.

“Unfortunately, we still see cases where people are choosing to plant under our lines and we will need to cut these back in the future to meet our strict clearance requirements.

“While we will always encourage people not to plant under powerlines, if trees must be planted there, we recommend choosing low canopy species that will reach a mature maximum height of 3.5 metres.

“Talk to your local nursery and they can let you know what species will do well in your area and how big they’ll grow.”

For more information visit: https://www.powercor.com.au/for-your-home/electrical-safety/vegetation-management/

Background – How our inspection and cutting program works

• We inspect 100% of our network each year and we cut back trees and branches from around 50,000 powerlines spans annually.
• Our trained cutting teams can enter private property to cut trees back from powerlines, and also work on public land across our network.
• Our teams need to meet clearance requirements that are regulated by Victoria’s energy safety regulator, Energy Safe Victoria (ESV).
• Larger clearance areas are required in areas of higher bushfire risk.
• For private property, our teams notify customers of cutting required at their address, complete the required pruning work then return to remove debris.
• When urgent cutting is identified, we aren’t always able to provide advance notice.