“Birds cause three outages over three days in Brentwood”
That was the headline in a June 2009 press release issued by Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation (MTEMC). Birds flying into MTEMC's Brentwood Substation disrupted power on a Thursday morning, the following Saturday morning and again on that same Saturday afternoon. In each instance, nearly 6,000 MTEMC members lost power for 20-30 minutes. According to Ken Malone, Electrical Engineering Supervisor at MTEMC, “Like clock-work, the Brentwood substation experienced bird-caused outages every June. In fact, in one 3- day span, we experienced three outages – two in one day . . . and when that happens our CEO gets a call from the Governor.”
Brentwood, a suburb of Nashville, is where the Brentwood substation is located and serves one of the top 10 most affluent counties in the U.S. including the country music industry: hotels and office space and Cool Springs Galleria Mall. On the residential side, homes served are valued in the range of $750 thousand and above.
"Birds flying into substations are a reality of the electric industry," said MTEMC's Chris Jones, "but for it to happen three times over three days at the same station is highly unusual." Following an engineering study, MTEMC tried using other brands of covers over the equipment that was impacted; however, those products failed and the bird-caused outages continued. That’s when MTEMC installed the Greenjacket® solution.
Utilizing photogrammetric imaging, Cantega set out to design and manufacture Greenjacket® precise-fit cover-up for MTEMC. Greenjacket® is made from a highly dialectric, polyurea material that meets the IEEE 1656 industry guideline for bird and animal cover-up. Unlike other generic covers, the Greenjacket® precise-fit cover up is made to order and designed to exacting dimensions.
According to Ken Malone, “The angle bus within the distribution bay was a unique shape that could not be covered by any other product, except Greenjacket®.” Ken adds, “Since we installed the Greenjacket® precise-fit cover-up, we have not experienced any outages from the protected equipment. Greenjacket® is a high quality product that has won our confidence.”