In order to reduce the risk of vegetation damaging its power lines, Hydro-Québec has carried out deforestation work over more than 200 km in Sept-Îles and its surrounding areas since the winter. A UQAM researcher, however, believes that Hydro-Québec’s work “could be done differently” thanks to new technologies.
The passage of Hydro-Québec teams and its subcontractors is clearly visible along Route 138 and in several sectors of Sept-Îles, notably in Clarke City, Moisie and near the community of Mani-utenam.
For several kilometers, all that remains is wood chips from trees cut along the state company’s power lines.
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Due to the use of mechanized cutting techniques, only wood chips remain after the passage of Hydro-Québec teams. With this method, the company wants to reduce the amount of residue.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Alban Normandin
Pruning and deforestation work is the best way to reduce the risk of breakdowns and the risk of falls on our network
supports the community relations advisor for eastern Quebec for Hydro-Québec, Marie-Ève Duguay.
Last February, Hydro-Québec adopted an action plan to reduce the number of outages by 35% by 2035. To achieve this objective, the state-owned company aims to cut down 75,000 trees, a $130 million project to reduce the number of vegetation-related outages by 30% by 2028.
According to the spokesperson, 70% of outages on the network are caused by vegetation during major weather events
.
It has been approximately 10 years since Hydro-Québec had carried out deforestation work along its lines on the North Shore. She now wants to carry out this work every five to six years.
During 2024 and next year, this deforestation work will extend to other municipalities on the North Shore, notably Port-Cartier, Havre-Saint-Pierre and Natashquan, but also to Baie-Trinité and Godbout.
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Marie-Ève Duguay explains that Hydro-Québec plants certain species of plants below its power lines in order to improve the health of ecosystems.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Alban Normandin
There are a whole bunch of factors that are taken into account by our teams […] to collect only trees that present a risk.
Improving cutting techniques with AI and lasers
Are there vegetation maintenance methods that would reduce the number of trees cut down near the power grid? This is the question that the professor and holder of the CRSNG/Hydro-Québec research chair on the control of tree growth, Christian Messier, is trying to answer.
The man who has headed the chair for nearly 15 years believes that by using new technologies, Hydro-Québec could reduce the number of interventions which is necessary to reduce outages, but which could be done differently
.
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Professor Christian Messier believes that the residues resulting from deforestation work have benefits for the ecosystems along power lines. (Archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada
On the one hand, the population wants fewer breakdowns and wants more trees, to preserve trees, to preserve biodiversity. This is what we are working on. We must try to find a compromise.
To achieve this, Christian Messier and his team are working to develop a new technique that incorporates artificial intelligence and laser beam technology (LIDAR) to map trees along power lines in three dimensions.
In this way, it would then be possible to determine and to predict
which branches and which specific trees would need to be cut down instead of carrying out systematic cuts, as Hydro-Québec does.
The projects are only just beginning and are at the research stage, concedes the researcher.
He says he is evaluating several measures to preserve as many trees as possible, so that they continue their role of filtering the air and mitigating heat islands in the city.
