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200,000 Hours of Heliborne Operations
in the Service of the French Power Transmission Grid
17th June 2003 – Le Bourget –
16h30
At the Paris Air Show, André MERLIN, Director of
RTE, the company responsible for managing France's power transmission
grid, Fabrice Brégier, President and CEO of the Eurocopter
group and Emeric d’ARCIMOLES, CEO of Turbomeca, celebrate
the 200,000 hours of heliborne work that has been performed
to monitor and maintain the French high and very-high voltage
networks.
The field of heliborne work for power transmission maintenance
is a true French specialty; EdF (Electricité de France)
has more than 50 years’ experience and RTE continues
today. This working practice is underpinned by a solid industrial
partnership between RTE, Eurocopter, and the engine manufacturer
Turbomeca.
Two Eurocopter helicopters - the Ecureuil, with more than
4000 sold worldwide, and the Lama - are used for maintenance
and repair services on 100,000 kilometers of power lines in
RTE’s network.
STH, RTE’s heliborne operations department, has a
staff of fifty, including twelve pilots and twelve technicians,
and calls on the services of some sixty linemen qualified
to work on energized overhead cables. It uses eight Ecureuil
helicopters fitted with Turbomeca Arriel engines for line
inspection duties, one Ecureuil with twin Arrius engines for
maintenance performed in baskets, and one Lama helicopter
fitted with the Artouste engine for the erection of power
transmission towers.
The pilots and linemen at RTE form a tightly knit team of
highly motivated and exacting professionals who optimize helicopter
potential by developing operational methods and new high-performance
tools, such as infrared thermography to detect hotspots.
RTE collaborates closely with CGTM, the Turbomeca subsidiary
that specializes in flight tests. CGTM has performed several
hundred hours of tests for RTE. Thanks to this collaboration,
specific equipment has been developed to optimize basket operations
on high voltage lines. The flight procedures defined by CGTM
for this type of aerial work have led to the DGAC (French
Civil Aeronautics Directorate) certification of the twin-engine
Ecureuil.
Currently, 80% of heliborne operations are performed on
energized cables. As part of its public service mission, RTE
can thus ensure a continuous electricity supply while at the
same time significantly reducing maintenance costs. The equivalent
of a thousand days’ of interruption on the power line
is thus avoided, and the time required for maintenance operations
is divided by 15.
Heliborne operations on the power transmission grid, designed
and developed within the framework of long-term industrial
relationships founded on professional know-how and mutual
trust, constitute a French specialty that is recognized throughout
the world. EdF and RTE have filed for several patents and
the first technology transfer has already taken place in England.
Press contacts:
Eurocopter :
Jean-Louis ESPES – Tel : (+33) 4 42 85 95 55 -
jean-louis.espes@eurocopter.com
Turbomeca :
Bettina FREY – Tel : (+33) 5 59 12 55 69 - bettina.frey@turbomeca.fr
RTE :
Karine de USATORRE – Tel : (+33) 1 41 02 15 69 - karine.de-usatorre@rte-france.com
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