alt.energy.renewable

On Sep 9, 9:19 pm, "Reader" wrote:
> Re an earlier question/comment--the property is in the Northern Rockies. So
> arid desert climate yes, but also some pretty good snows some winter
> (property is at high elevation).
>
> Burying cable and digging multiple 3-5 foot holes for poles are both near
> impossible. There's a reason the Rockies are called "Rockies." This terrain
> is largely boulders mixed with talus slopes and large douglas fir and pine
> trees--all of which make it nearly impossible to dig anything major. Lying
> the cable on the ground, at least on the steeper mountain sections, is
> probably the only feasible option (other than possibly stringing it in the
> trees, but only as high as a person can reach, as ladders aren't going to be
> feasible on that hillside either). I'm wondering if there's a way to
> extra-shelter the cable (put inside something like PVC pipe, but for
> 1400-1700 feet, that's probably not feasible either).
>
> And yes, the bears, mountain lions, elk, moose, and deer even all could
> knock poles down, I imagine, if they wanted to.
>

"large douglas fir and pine trees" ... that implies that the lower
limbs are well up the tree trunks (unless they are "scrub" trees). If
that is true, could live trees be used as poles? Use lag screw or
spike mounted insulators at an accessable height.

The trees will tend to be "lightning rods" and possibly reduce risk of
direct power line strike. However, there would still be V/I transients
induced on the powerlines when a strike occurs to an adjacent tree. So
strike protection is still required to protect your system hardware.