Increasing the resilience of networks in the face of phenomena such as wet snow sleeves, wind, and strong storms also presupposes knowing the intensity of their impacts through targeted monitoring in order to effectively and timely predict them.
The three WILD 2.0 pilot stations installed in collaboration with e-distribuzione within the NEWMAN project are automatically detecting the meteorological parameters of snowfall and the sleeve load on the MV spans, and documenting the effects of wet snow on conductors and overhead lines. This allows the verification of the growth model used within WOLF, the historical reconstruction of the sleeve loads based on MERIDA, and the continuous comparison with the WOLF forecasts available in real time on the WOLF website. Even with recorded loads lower than 1 kgf/m, the growth model fed with the meteorological data recorded on the span edge responds correctly, and is important for integrating measurements and forecasts. A sleeve growth reduction model is also proposed as a function of the reached load, which tries in a simplified way to compensate for the shedding effects, whose modeling is extremely complex to date.
Knowledge of the territory crossed by the lines is also important, since failures also occur for indirect reasons due to the fall of plants, both during snowfall and strong winds. For this purpose, a national mapping (divided by region) of the exposure factor of the HV spans to indirect risk has been completed. This risk is induced by tall trees standing adjacent to the route in combination with the gradient of slopes. Each span has also been characterized according to the closest type of predominant tall tree, as a correlation between indirect failures and tree species has been reported by the Operators. The indirect risk mapping could be coupled in the future with the WOLF system for a combined risk forecast.
The development of a prototype for monitoring and nowcasting of severe thunderstorms has been started, based on the use of data from meteorological radars and the MSG satellite. The prototype is already able to estimate the intensity of a thunderstorm and the probability of damage to the ground, as well as to predict the position up to 30-60 minutes ahead. The prototype was tested in August 2017 during a major storm event that occurred on the HV network in the province of Rovigo.