Workers can be seen this week digging shallow trenches around some utility poles in Perry as part of an Alliant Energy inspection program.
Osmose Utilities Services of Peachtree City, Ga., is an Alliant contractor performing the inspections.
Tre Acacay, a utility pole inspector with Osmose Utilities Services, said the lifespan of power poles varies.
“I’ve seen some poles from the ’50s that are still solid,” the Texan Acacay said, “and others are rotten after ony a few years.” He said a pole is first “sounded” with a hammer to detect internal decay and then bored to determine the location and extent of the decay.
Rotting poles are excavated to a depth of 18 inches to determine the extent of the decay at the groundline, he said, and decayed wood is removed and a preservative paste is applied to protect the remaining sound wood.
Alliant Energy spent about $15 million on a two-year project to rewire Perry between 2015 and 2017, a project that brought 889 new power poles and 16 miles of new wire to Perry. Acacay said the new poles are solid, and he is inspecting older poles.
Alliant’s electricity infrastructure upgrade also included the construction of a new substation that doubled Perry’s power capacity, from 12.5 kilovolts to 25 kilovolts, and standardized the power voltage distributed in Perry and the surrounding area.
