Sir, – I take issue with Dr Elizabeth Cullen's well expressed but erroneous letter on pylon health risks (February 1st)
In the early 1890s the Westinghouse Electric Company introduced high voltage AC distribution of electrical power to the north-east of the United States. Power transmission in this form has been around for over 120 years. If a health hazard was associated, surely it would have shown up by now.
If there is a health problem associated with alternating electrical fields, I should worry more about my electric blanket or the alarm clock positioned two feet from my head as I sleep; or the multiplicity of circuits and gadgets around the house which, presumably, are emitting this “radiation”.
I have a 220,000 volt power line located 80 metres from my house and a large, unsightly pylon in the corner of our site. I have worked in a plastic tunnel 10 metres away from the nearest conductor for the past 25 years. I am not in any way worried by this proximity.
These power lines and pylons are a visual and aesthetic intrusion on the landscape. But the alternative suggestion of putting the lines underground is not economically sound. The UK based IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) has recently released a report on underground versus overhead transmission costs with the following conclusion:
“The report deduced that when comparing overall lifetime costs, overhead transmission cables are the most economical technology. For example, 75km of direct-buried AC medium capacity (6380 MVA) cable will incur a lifetime cost £1414.3 million, whilst its overhead equivalent will cost £299.8million.”
Using these figures, the cost of putting the required cables underground would be approximately 4.5 times the overhead equivalent. Many extra billions would be required.
Perhaps the environmental lobby would need to reconsider its support for the ridiculous target of 40 per cent of our generation capacity to be sourced from heavily subsidised and unreliable renewables. This widely distributed generation largely dictates the requirement for the proposed new power lines. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’LOUGHLIN,
BE (Elec) CEng. MIEI,
Dunshane,
Brannockstown,
Naas,
Co Kildare.