The company invests $26 million to reinforce the power grid during
severe weather
AKRON,
Ohio, May 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohio
Edison, a FirstEnergy Corp.
(NYSE: FE) subsidiary, is conducting tree trimming and other
vegetation management work in communities across northeast and
northcentral Ohio as part of the
company's ongoing efforts to help enhance electric service
reliability. This year's $26 million
tree-trimming program will help keep power flowing to customers by
helping to prevent tree-related outages, such as those that can
occur during the spring and summer storm season.
A video explaining and demonstrating tree-trimming work
can be found on FirstEnergy's YouTube
channel.
On the ground, contractors have trimmed trees along more than
600 miles of power lines across Ohio Edison's service area since
the beginning of the year. The company is on track to complete an
additional 4,200 miles of tree-trimming work by the end of the
year. Similar work is performed annually by FirstEnergy
transmission companies along high-voltage power lines in the
company's service territory.
Pat Mullin, Acting President
of FirstEnergy's Ohio Operations: "Trees are a leading cause of
power outages, and we complete tree-trimming work each year to
prevent tree-related outages during severe weather. This work,
paired with the vast upgrades we've made to our local power system
over recent years, undoubtedly helps minimize the impact of
weather-related outages to keep the power flowing safely and
reliably to customers."
Tree trimming is done on a four-year cycle. The work includes
inspecting vegetation near power lines to ensure trees are pruned
to preserve the health of the tree while also maintaining safe
clearances. Trees that present a danger or are diseased may be
removed.
This year, the work is being conducted in the following counties
and communities:
- Clark: New Carlisle, North
Hampton and Springfield
- Columbiana:
Leetonia, Lisbon and Salem
- Erie: Berlin Heights, Huron and Sandusky
- Huron: Huron and Norwalk
- Lorain: Elyria, Grafton, Lorain, North
Ridgeville, Sheffield
Village and South
Amherst
- Madison: London
- Mahoning: Austintown, Boardman, Campbell, Lake
Milton, Lowellville,
Mineral Ridge, North Jackson, Struthers and Youngstown
- Medina: Medina
- Ottawa: Port Clinton
- Portage: Ravenna
- Richland: Madison Township and Mansfield
- Stark: Alliance, Atwater, Greentown, Hartville, Lexington, Massillon, Perry
Township, and North
Canton
- Summit: Barberton, Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Chapel Hill, Green, Clinton, Copley, Coventry
Township, Akron,
Doylestown, East Akron, Ellet, Elizabeth Park Valley, Goodyear Heights,
Hudson, Kenmore, Lakemore, Middlebury, Mogadore, North Hill, Norton, Peninsula, Richfield, Silver
Lake, Springfield Township,
Tallmadge and Wadsworth
- Trumbull: Fowler, Girard, Hartford, Kinsman, McDonald, Parkman, Southington, Vienna and Warren
As part of its notification process, Ohio Edison works with
municipalities to inform them of trimming schedules. In addition,
customers living in areas along company rights-of-way also are
notified before vegetation management work is done.
The vegetation management work is conducted by certified
forestry experts under the company's direction, including Asplundh
Tree Expert Company, Davey Tree Expert Company, Nelson Tree Service
Inc., Penn Line Service, Townsend Tree Service and Wright Tree
Service.
In the air, helicopters equipped with aerial saws began trimming
trees in March to maintain clearances along hard-to-access
transmission and distribution corridors throughout Ohio Edison's
service area. The aerial saw is typically deployed along
transmission and distribution lines in areas that may be
environmentally sensitive or inaccessible to bucket trucks and
other vehicles. This method typically covers more area in a day
than a ground crew might complete in a week. The saw also
eliminates the risk of injury to workers using bucket trucks or
climbing trees to cut limbs near high-voltage equipment.
Ohio Edison serves more than 1
million customers across 34 Ohio
counties. Follow Ohio Edison on X, formerly known as Twitter,
@OhioEdison and on Facebook at facebook.com/OhioEdison.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving more than six million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland and New York. The company's transmission
subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission
lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow
FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and on
X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: Photos of workers trimming trees near
FirstEnergy power lines are available for download on Flickr.
B-roll of the aerial saw in action is available on YouTube.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.