The Illuminating Company invests
$19.7 million to reinforce the power
grid during severe weather
CLEVELAND, May 15, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- The Illuminating Company, a FirstEnergy Corp.
(NYSE: FE) subsidiary, is conducting tree trimming and other
vegetation management work in communities across its northeast
Ohio service area as part of its
ongoing efforts to help enhance electric service reliability. This
year's $19.7 million tree-trimming
program will help keep power flowing to customers by helping to
prevent tree-related outages, such as those that can occur during
the spring and summer storm season.
A video explaining and demonstrating tree-trimming work
can be found on FirstEnergy's YouTube
channel.
On the ground, contractors have trimmed trees along
approximately 100 miles of power lines across the greater
Cleveland area since the beginning
of the year. The company is on track to complete an additional
1,750 miles of tree-trimming work by the end of the year. Similar
work is performed annually by FirstEnergy transmission companies
along high-voltage power lines in the company's service
territory.
Pat Mullin, Acting President
of FirstEnergy's Ohio Operations: "Trees are a leading cause of
power outages, and we complete proactive tree-trimming work each
year to prevent tree-related outages during severe weather. This
work, paired with the vast upgrades we've made to our local power
system over recent years, undoubtedly helps minimize the impact of
weather-related outages to keep the power flowing safely and
reliably to customers."
Tree trimming is done on a four-year cycle. The work includes
inspecting vegetation near power lines to ensure trees are pruned
to preserve the health of the tree while also maintaining safe
clearances. Trees that present a danger or are diseased may be
removed.
This year, the work is being conducted in the following counties
and communities:
- Ashtabula –
Ashtabula Township, Geneva Township and Harpersfield Township
- Cuyahoga – Bedford, Bay
Village, Beachwood,
Bratenahl, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Cuyahoga
Heights, East Cleveland,
Euclid, Gates Mills, Hunting
Valley, Lakewood,
Mayfield Heights, Newburgh Heights, Oakwood, Parma, Richmond
Heights, Shaker Heights,
Walton Hills, Westlake and Woodmere
- Geauga – Claridon
Township, Hambden Township,
Hunting Valley, Huntsburg Township, Middlefield Township and Thompson Township
- Lake – Eastlake, Fairport
Village, Grand River,
Kirtland, Madison Township, Mentor, Painesville
Township, Willowick and
Willoughby
- Lorain – Avon Lake
As part of its notification process, The Illuminating Company
works with municipalities to inform them of tree-trimming
schedules. In addition, customers living in areas along company
rights-of-way also are notified before vegetation management work
is done.
The Illuminating Company's vegetation management work is
conducted by certified forestry experts under the company's
direction, including Asplundh Tree Expert Company, Davey Tree
Expert Company, Penn Line Services and Townsend Tree Service.
In the air, helicopters equipped with aerial saws began trimming
trees in March to maintain clearances along hard-to-access
transmission and distribution corridors throughout The Illuminating
Company's service area. The aerial saw is typically deployed along
transmission and distribution lines in areas that may be
environmentally sensitive or inaccessible to bucket trucks and
other vehicles. This method typically covers more area in a day
than a ground crew might complete in a week. The saw also
eliminates the risk of injury to workers using bucket trucks or
climbing trees to cut limbs near high-voltage equipment.
The Illuminating Company serves more than 750,000 customers
across Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake
and Lorain counties. Follow The
Illuminating Company on X, formerly known as Twitter,
@IlluminatingCo and on Facebook at facebook.com/IlluminatingCo.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving more than six million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland and New York. The company's transmission
subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission
lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow
FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and on
X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: Photos of workers trimming trees near
FirstEnergy power lines are available for download on Flickr.
B-roll of the aerial saw in action is available on YouTube.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.