??? Surely they didn't make such a basic mistake, closer means more expensive as there are more of them, unless the new ones are cheaper and so the total cost including more foundations s less.

Also, each side has its own earth (lightning conductor?) at the top whereas old ones only had one, more expense?

The big advantage with air insulation is that it self heals. If you get an arc with solid insulation it gets damaged and isn't an insulator any more 

Edited By duncan webster on 08/03/2022 20:55:09

The individual metal elements of the old ones were thin so if not on the skyline but seen with a backgouund of trees they blend in better. The driving force behind them is probably lifecycle costs. The metal ones have to be painted regularly which is a very manual and expensive process.

What language are they speaking?

"…compact power pylons that are respectable to the landscape and environment…"

and "… optimized throughout the value chain".

.

”Box-ticking”

MichaelG.

Have you actually seen them being re painted. I saw some old ones being taken down & the galvanising was still fairly good. I thought that painting previously galvanised surfaces is not quite so straight forward, as it is to bare, or pre painted steel.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 09/03/2022 08:45:14

Can’t imagine why anyone would need to paint the old style pylons as they are galvanised, ever tried to get paint to adhere to galvanise, it won’t. Dave W

Job justification which is the native tongue of all middle managers. This one seems to be American from the 'z' in optimised

"…compact power pylons that are respectable to the landscape and environment…" is bad English wherever she is spoke!

""… optimized throughout the value chain" is less criminal because it has a particular business management and accounting meaning. It's the language one might see in the Management Summary introducing a hefty business case full of spreadsheets and risk assessments justifying spending big money.

Laziness is a likely cause – someone created the web page by cannibalising a Management Summary rather than engaging brain and re-writing it for a general audience.

In the right context 'optimized throughout the value chain' is pithy jargon. Quite hard to explain what it means in plain English because 'Value Chain Management' is a chunky manufacturing discipline, the goal being to 'maximise value at the lowest total cost'. Whereas a production engineer might reduce costs by simplifying and adjusting the design to suit manufacture, VCM considers all possible economies, including sacking the workforce, turning the factory into a housing estate and moving production abroad! Production Engineers are nice cuddly chaps: Value Chain Analysts are spawn of Darth Vader…

Dave

Can’t imagine why anyone would need to paint the old style pylons as they are galvanised, ever tried to get paint to adhere to galvanise, it won’t.

The old style pylons did used to be painted – a former colleague did a stint painting them until he was "barred" as a contractor for not applying enough paint.

No idea what sort of paint was used but coverage was specified and, apparently, checked.

Nigel B.