2026

The energy transition requires construction of new energy infrastructure in remote and wildlife rich area in order to connect renewable generation to urban consumption, increasing the interactions between wildlife and energised lines across remote areas.

This interaction will result in collisions, nesting, guano pollution challenges in remote transmission lines. Various mitigation and redirection techniques can be applied to reduce these risks which can result in power continuity and wildlife mortality challenges. This paper will focus on the use of bird discouragers to prevent and redirect nesting away from critical areas on lattice transmission structures and the challenge of durability of fastening methodology.

While transmission lattice towers are engineered for 60-80 years service, often components attached to the towers are designed with lower life expectancy and in fact some have a detrimental impact on the life expectancy of the steel work, impacting local structural integrity and corrosion resistance over time as defined in ISO 12944:2018.

The goals of this paper are
a) To introduce a resilient and effective anti-nesting technology successfully deployed by PPL (Pennsylvania Power and Light) in the USA in lattice towers up to 400kV in salt polluted coastal environments.
b) To compare and contrast different fastening methods used to fix these bird discouragers, (namely stainless steel straps(banding), drill through fasteners, clamping and self threading bolts).
c) To demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a reliable fastening method with a 40+ year life expectancy in polluted environments and over 60+ years in normal environments, when bird discouragers and fasteners are designed and specified correctly.
d) To make a comparison and correlation of long term testing at a high salt pollution coastal site in Helgoland, Germany with qualification testing performed in a laboratory environment.
e) Finally to use the 100 year global warming potential (GWP₁₀₀) methodology according to DIN EN ISO 14040/44 to perform a life cycle assessment of the optimal fastening solutions.
The paper will detail the importance of material selection, fastener design and application in maximising residual strength of the assembly and eliminating the risk of application failure, or corrosion due to the interaction of the fastener and the lattice structure.

It will conclude by defining the qualification methodology recommended to achieve a life expectancy of forty plus years in a polluted application without compromising mechanical integrity or corrosion resistance of the fastener or the lattice tower members.

Key words: Bird deterrent, Bird discourager, bird spikes, nest deterrent, fastening to lattice structure, durable fasteners, corrosion resistant fastener, fire resistant fastener, grounding fastener, lightning protection fastening, lattice tower corrosion, fastener life cycle analysis.