Author(s)

Joseph Voufo^1,2*, Zakari Yaou^2,3, Florent Biyeme^1,2, Rolland Djomi^1,2, Richard Dadji Metangmo^1,4, Théodore Tchotang^1,2

¹National Advanced School of Engineering of Yaoundé (NASEY), Yaoundé, Cameroon.
²Laboratory of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
³Higher Technical Teacher Training College of Ebolowa, Ebolowa, Cameroon.
⁴Department of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The present work deals with reducing greenhouse gas emissions through improving the life span of wooden power electric poles of Eucalyptus saligna. Indeed, in Sub-Saharan African countries, Cameroon in particular, most of the power line networks are made of wooden supports and according to the Cameroon energy distribution company, wooden poles represent 32% of the causes of death linked to the state of the network. The company’s 2019 annual report indicates that 40,000 wooden poles were in critical condition and should be replaced. A significant number of mechanical failures affecting these supports have been observed. For example, on the HVA/LV power line “D17 Nko- abang” in Yaoundé in Cameroon, less than three years old, 10 (ten) cases of poles falling and/or breaking, due to their mechanical loading, were observed over a period of fewer than nine months, causing an average service stoppage for more than 11 hours and affecting an average of 3280 customers. These incidents lead to questions about how the supports are dimensioned and what load capacities they are designed to support. The aim of this work is, therefore, to suggest a method of dimensioning wooden poles hence reducing green- house gas emissions due to the deforestation by reducing the number of woo- den poles at risk to be replaced on Cameroon’s electricity distribution network. And more specifically, to reduce the number of mechanical failures affecting the wooden supports observed by analyzing the current wooden supports with their loads and to make proposals for improving the actual dimensioning me- thods. From the study carried out, it appears that 449 out of 845 supports, i.e., 53% needed to be replaced or monitored because they support the nominal forces ranging from 85% to 150% of their admissible limit and proposals have been made to improve their dimensioning.

Electrical Power Line, Dimensioning Wooden Pole, Efforts on Pole, Pole’s Height, Method of Loading, Overload Coefficients

Voufo, J. , Yaou, Z. , Biyeme, F. , Djomi, R. , Metangmo, R. and Tchotang, T. (2022) Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Improving the Life Span of Wooden Power Electric Poles of Eucalyptus saligna. Modern Mechanical Engineering, 12, 1-26. doi: 10.4236/mme.2022.121001.