On February 4th, 2024, there was a major wind event affecting the Woodside 1101 circuit. The estimated gusty winds exceeded 100 miles per hour causing trees to fall and overhead wires to come down.
We reported to the site to evaluate any potential impact to the GLDS. Although there were dozens of trees that fell, we were only able to identify one location along the whole 0.5-mile installation where a oak tree with an approximate weight of 20,000lb, diameter of 23.8” with a force from 100+miles/hour wind fell on the GLDS and had made a dent in the TPO. This impact happens to have a branch directly causing a small puncture in the top Cap (~1.5”), however, the geopolymer fill looked to be intact.
We also observed a saw cut on the TPO which was the result of the tree workers cutting the oak Tree to clear the road. We started to remove the top cap to further evaluate the condition of the geopolymer and ensure the integrity of the HDP conduit and CIC. We found a crack in the geopolymer; however, the crack was not all the way through and certainly no exposure to the CIC. Also, we noticed minor marks from the chain saw, but the chainsaw never made it through the geopolymer. We started to break cracked concrete and remove the pieces to proceed with patching and repair the geopolymer to bring it to its normal condition of pre-event
Conclusion:
The GLDS performed as designed, preventing any potential overhead wires down for the segments it had replaced, so no wires down and no risk of causing a wildfire. This was a great real-life test. The system proved to be effective and impenetrable as related to exposing powerlines or arching of conductors.
We continue to work on enhancing our system and interestingly our newly developed formula (6 weeks ago) for the geopolymer (Rudd Mix) has been tested 2.5X stronger than the material used for the pilot at Woodside 1101 pilot. We are confident that with all the learning and improvements being made, now as well as in the future, we will further strengthen this system and its intent.
