About

Icing on power lines can cause major disruptions in electricity supply networks. These disruptions lead to excessive costs for repair as well as consequential losses. There is also a risk to human safety for employees tasked with the repair of power lines in harsh environmental conditions. 

Icing on power lines is a problem experienced in most high-latitude countries of which Norway has some of the highest recorded ice loads. The main objectives of this project are:

  • Develop and test cost effective sensors for real-time monitoring of ice loads in the grid.
  • Develop an improved analytical icing model for icing of large objects.
  • Develop probabilistic forecasting methods for short-term prediction of icing events.
  • Improve the parameterization of wet snow in the WRF microphysics code.
  • Develop a nationwide map of design ice loads including effects of climate change.
  • Investigation and numerical modelling of technologies for ice reduction and removal.