Power outages triggered by squirrels or birds can be a costly annoyance to power providers and consumers.

But a Canadian-built solution, the brainchild of a power lineman, is sparking interest from one of the largest high-tech companies in the world.

Greenjacket is a tight-fitting insulated material tailored for specific energized equipment. Special prefabricated dielectric polymer covers are designed to eliminate the 20 per cent of power outages that are attributed to wildlife coming into contact with electricity transmission systems.

Marty Niles, a former senior power lineman from Lac La Biche, Alta., is now president of Edmonton-based Cantega Technologies, a two-year-old company that he created after seeing an opening in the power market for such a device.

Photo courtesy of Cantega Technologies
Cantega's Greenjackets cover the vulnerable points in this power transmission substation.

And now 3M Canada - one of the largest international subsidiaries of St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M, a $22-billion diversified technology company - has obtained exclusive rights to sell and market Greenjacket within Canada "We are always looking for ways to expand our portfolio and working with small businesses is a great opportunity for that," says Bill Boyce, Alberta regional director for 3M Canada, which is based in London. "We think they've come up with a pretty unique solution. Together we can expand across Canada."

Boyce notes 3M has been involved in the electrical market since the 1950s. 3M Canada will start marketing the product in the West and then move east.

Cantega CEO Al Gourley says power outages cost the U.S. economy $75 billion a year. Of that, about 20 per cent, or $15 billion, can be attributed to wildlife-caused outages.

"It's turning out to be a very good fit for them and for us," says Gourley. "Greenjacket needed distribution and marketing, and they needed a product like this. It happened very, very quickly and they're a terrific company with a global brand and global recognition."

Cantega is targeting transmission substations where it believes the product is most needed.

And while there are competitors, the company says its products are customized to fit the power devices - equipment size can vary at each substation - while its competition generally uses a one-size-fits-all formula.

Ravens and other birds use power transmission substations as perch points and can trigger a power outage in addition to frying themselves. Squirrels, raccoons and other wildlife can also inadvertently cause power outages by coming in contact with exposed electrical equipment.

Gourley says Cantega was already working with SaskPower and Manitoba Hydro when it was approached by 3M.

"Our target is the global market, frankly, starting out from Western Canada - it's a several hundred million-dollar market globally and there's a huge market beyond substations that we really can't quantify yet."

Cantega has also been working with Calgary-based AltaLink - responsible for the maintenance and operation of approximately 11,600 kilometres of transmission lines and 260 substations in Alberta - to retrofit substations that have high histories of bird-caused power outages.

More than 15 AltaLink substations now have the Greenjacket system in place - the pre-measured pieces can be snapped off and then snapped back on should AltaLink need to work on the equipment - and there has only been one incident of a bird-related power outage at those locations.

"In our experience, its been a great solution," says Scott Schreiner, AltaLink's manager of external communications. "Greenjacket protects the most sensitive areas in the substation and prevents birds or wildlife from touching those energized portions."

The birds can also benefit. "They can now come and go, they're not going to be harmed and they're not going to short-circuit the equipment, so there's an environmental aspect as well," Gourley says.

The solution harkens back to Niles' day as a power lineman, adds Gourley.

"Marty was being called out in the middle of the night to do repairs and seeing the costs that were being incurred and they were really just doing patchwork solutions - there weren't protective devices to prevent this from happening again."

The lineman initially came up with a plan to spray a protective polymer onto the power equipment onsite. That idea was subsequently revised into the die-cast product after spraying proved too complicated and costly.

"With wind there would be overspray and there was a need to do a lot of masking. Also, you couldn't do it if the weather was too cold or too hot," says Gourley.

Now Cantega makes an initial visit to the site, takes measurements and later returns with the customized Greenjacket components.

"This way, we're able to reduce the installation time," says Gourley, adding while manufacturing custom-sized parts may be more expensive, costs are less as the installation time is dramatically lower.

And that's not just for the birds.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)