EDN North is undertaking a large-scale campaign to prevent outages and appeals to institutions for assistance in the construction of clearings along power lines

Published on 30.05.2025

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This year, the company plans to invest over 10% of its investment program in equipment and labor to carry out the activity

In response to the challenges of last winter and in order to ensure a stable power supply in the new season EDN North launched an active preventive campaign to build and maintain gaps along overhead power lines in Northeastern Bulgaria, taking into account the spring growth of trees and shrubs. The activities are pre-organized and coordinated in meetings with local authorities and regional forestry enterprises. The goal is to limit emergency power outages due to fallen trees and broken branches. Intensive cleaning and clearing is underway in the most problematic areas in the districts of Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Targovishte, Shumen and Silistra, carried out both with internal resources and with the assistance of subcontractors, to achieve maximum coverage and efficiency.

EDN North initiated meetings and committees were formed with the participation of the responsible institutions for inspections of overhead powerlines routes, and planning, on-site visits and drafting of the relevant protocols are currently underway. To expand the scope of activities for pruning and cleaning vegetation along power lines, the company has increased the planned equipment and team costs for this year to over 10% of its investment program.

For the successful implementation of the clearing works the company relies on the active cooperation of the responsible institutions in the form of local authorities and regional forestry directorates. During the field inspections already carried out, vegetation outside the easement zones was identified, as well as conflict zones along overhead power lines passing through forest areas. On the one hand this creates a serious risk to the security of electricity supply to customers in the affected areas, and on the other hand, it poses a risk of fires when trees and branches come into contact with overhead lines. In order to ensure timely safety, the EDN North appeals to the responsible institutions to accelerate the process of approving the activity of carrying out clearings in the easement zones of overhead power lines bordering forest areas as well as for timely actions to be taken by the regional forestry directorates to remove dangerous trees outside the easement areas that pose a risk to the safe operation of the facilities. For its part the company has provided sufficient human resources and specialized equipment to be able to make cuts along the largest possible number of power lines from the power distribution network, so as to ensure a stable power supply during the autumn-winter season.

With these actions EDN North confirms its commitment to prevention, security and quality of services, and relies on timely responsible partnership with the relevant institutions to achieve a common goal - reliable power supply for all consumers in the region.