Vegetation Contacts With Medium-Voltage Conductors: Summary of Field Experiements

Vegetation intrusion is a major problem on medium voltage distribution systems. Vegetation-related faults are often one of the largest components of customer unreliability, and vegetation management is often the largest single line-item expenditure in a utility’s operation and maintenance budget. Despite decades of published research findings, practitioners are often unaware of the nuances of how vegetation intrusion causes faults, or the possibilities of detection and remediation.

Research conducted by Texas A&M University, in conjunction with John Goodfellow of BioCompliance consulting has provided valuable insights into the ways tree contacts evolve into electrical faults. Results from these experiments have been independently confirmed by other research groups at EPRI and Pacific Gas and Electric. This paper will detail results from experiments performed at Texas A&M University in 2006, as well as follow-up experiments conducted by Texas A&M and Mr. Goodfellow at Oncor Electric Delivery in 2020. These experiements give insight to how vegetation faults progress, and raise questions about the possibility of detection, location, and response in an operational timeframe.