Pole Upgrading & Hardening

Thousands of poles in service today, although adequate at the time of installation, can no longer safely carry the loads they are required to support.  The addition of new distribution lines, telecom equipment, and broadband infrastructure has increased loads beyond the capabilities originally intended, compromising the structural reliability, resilience, and safety of poles across Australia.

System Hardening Program

Ensuring the health and structural resilience of the wood pole plant is a key component of every utility's grid modernization investment.

A successful, programmatic approach to wood pole asset life extension can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of the utility's overall smart grid investment. These life extension programs include thorough inspection, preservative treatment application, and where applicable, the installation of strength improvement trussing systems. 

These programs aim to preserve and restore pole strength to extend the useful life and improve the resilience of these critical assets. The results of such programs deliver well-documented financial, operating, and system resiliency returns.

Osmose' family of wood pole improvement products is used to enhance the structural resilience of the grid. Specifically, Osmose C and C2 trussing systems act as a structural hardening solution by improving an overhead circuit's resistance to extreme weather events. Without the restored strength the truss provides to the weakened pole, the overall circuit is at greater risk of a prolonged outage during a significant weather event.

Tough Truss Upgrade

A utility’s grid resiliency is positively affected by a robust pole inspection and restoration program. Weakened poles discovered during the inspection and rehabilitated with an Osmose C or C2-Truss will help minimize the number of wood poles needing attention, as utility crews work to restore power to the grid after a significant weather event.

Thousands of poles in service today, although adequate at the time of installation, can no longer safely carry the loads they are required to support. The addition of new distribution lines, telecommunications equipment, and broadband infrastructure has increased loads beyond the capabilities originally intended, compromising the structural resiliencyTM, reliability, and safety of poles across Australia.

The Tough Truss Upgrade works in conjunction with sound wood poles to create a combined bending capacity greater than the original pole class rating.

ET Truss

  • Upgrade pole capacity by 1, 2, 3, or more classes
  • Save money – the cost is often 1/3 or less than the cost of replacement
  • Avoid the extra effort, possible outages, and delays associated with coordinating change-outs
  • Upgrade an entire line without service interruption

Extensive testing has verified the strength expectations of the Upgrade solution, and Mother Nature has been putting real-world installations to the test for more than 20 years.

Tough Truss Extra

Introducing the Tough Truss Extra upgrading and restoring system for common sizes of distribution wood utility poles. This new solution from Osmose not only restores decayed poles to code-mandated strength like regular trusses but also upgrades the structure’s bending capacity at the same time.

For utilities looking to harden their system and increase their Structural Resiliency™ to extreme weather, or provide the extra structure capacity needed for telecommunications cables, small cell antennas, and equipment that support broadband technology expansions, the Tough Truss Extra fills a solution gap. Even poles deteriorating in the groundline zone can increase their rated bending capacity by a 1 class equivalent upgrade.

Osmose pole restoration systems have demonstrated their dependability over more than five decades of field use. This new truss system provides another dependable solution utilities need urgently to address the more frequent and severe weather events affecting the electric and telecommunication grid.

Benefits of the Tough Truss Extra

  • Improves the structure’s bending capacity to a single class upgraded equivalent
  • Decayed poles are restored to the code mandated strength required of a single class upgrade
  • Designed for common distribution size wood poles
  • Significantly extends pole life
  • Cost-effective alternative to pole replacement
  • Improves resiliency to extreme weather
  • No service interruptions or outages are required
  • Installation is scalable to utility needs. Use on a targeted pole-by-pole basis or on every pole on an entire line.

Contact your local Osmose expert about your pole upgrading and hardening needs.