Unitil Corporation, a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England has launched a new storm resiliency pilot in southern New Hampshire.
The pilot program, which begins this week, will create approximately 10 feet of clearance on either side of 15 miles of line in Plaistow, Atkinson and Newton this fall. By trimming additional clearance above that which is typical, Unitil forestry experts are hopeful the selected lines will be impacted less by severe weather following the pilot.
“All distribution lines in our electric system are pruned regularly, but traditional vegetative maintenance is to help protect against outages during smaller weather events, like a summer storm or a blustery day,” Unitil media relations manager Alec O’Meara said. “The work planned in this area will hopefully help insulate this region from much larger storms.”
Work associated with the pilot began this week and is expected to continue throughout the fall. Additional information on the pilot project, including streets affected, is available at Unitil.com’s Vegetation management section and can be found here.
“We are committed to working with our neighbors in the areas surrounding the project to keep people informed about our progress and explain why we are doing this work,” Unitil arborist Sara Sankowich said. “We are hopeful to complete work prior to the winter months, giving customers an electric infrastructure more resilient to harsh weather.”
The pilot work is being conducted by Mayer Tree Service, a privately owned business with offices in Plaistow as well as Essex and Worcester, Massachusetts.
