Animals can disrupt the flow of electricity to households by breaking into electrical substations.
Gusty winds knock down power lines and spark wildfires. Vegetation surrounding the substations catch fire. Severe winter storms cause mayhem at substations, bringing freezing conditions to regions with infrastructure not built to withstand frigid temperatures. And these threats are expected to worsen as the number of severe weather events continue to climb due to climate change.
"Animals also play a role in the reliability of the overall power system," Drew McGuire, the director of substations, distribution and environment research at the Electric Power Research Institute, a non-profit energy research and development organization, told ABC News."We typically see this in distribution in the lower voltages that you would typically see in neighborhoods and things like that in in substations.
Once critters such as squirrels, rats, raccoons and even snakes get into the substation, all they have to do is touch two pieces of bare metal to conduct a surge, Puigcerver said. Just the slightest touch could cause a flashover, which is involves electricity running through the animal from one electrical bare connection to another or to a grounded position, he added.
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