On Nov 3, transmission operation and maintenance staff from State Grid Zhengzhou Power Supply Company worked in the wetlands southeast of the Zhengzhou section of the Yellow River in Henan province, using a laser obstacle-removal device to clear plastic film tangled around high-voltage conductors. The film melted and dropped away in seconds; the crew put out the remaining flames and cleared the site.
The operation was more than routine line maintenance. It was part of the company's drive to remove "invisible threats" from the routes migratory birds take through the area.
The Zhengzhou wetland lies on the central corridor of China's three major migratory bird corridors. Strong winds frequently carry foreign objects from nearby farmland — plastic mulch film and kite strings among them — onto medium- and high-voltage lines, where birds may swallow them or become entangled.
To give the birds a safe habitat, the company has turned to technology such as laser obstacle-removal equipment to clear foreign objects from live lines, 160 of them so far. After every operation, the objects are taken off-site for centralized disposal, preventing secondary pollution and removing hazards that threaten the birds.
Large birds face another risk. When they perch on towers or build nests there, their wings or nesting material — branches, for instance — may touch live components and cause fatal shocks.
The company's answer pairs physical isolation with guided relocation. In areas where birds are active, crews have fitted insulating sleeves around key live components, forming a "safety barrier" for the birds. On towers where birds gather in numbers, sound-and-light deterrents warn them away and guide them toward safe places to nest and roost.
Bird protection and line safety have also been written into routine inspection protocols, so staff can keep track of where migratory birds roost and stop them from settling in dangerous spots.
"Our own patrols are not enough on their own — we need to bring in the professionals," said the company's operations and maintenance manager.
In recent years, the company has set up a standing partnership with the Henan Wildlife Conservation Center. Birds found injured during line patrols are handed to professional rescuers right away, and the center's trainers visit regularly to teach crews how to respond in an environmentally sound way.
When crews clear lines in bird habitats, they prune branches rather than cut down trees, and drones make regular rounds of the forest areas to check for fire hazards — doing as little harm to the birds' habitat as possible.
Going forward, State Grid Zhengzhou Power Supply Company will keep deepening its bird protection and line safety program, build ecological requirements into every stage of operation and maintenance, and work to keep grid facilities and the wetland ecosystem in harmony along the migration routes of the Yellow River's birds.
