An approach to reduce copper theft in transmission line grounding systems

Electrical grounding systems are heavily dependent upon copper. Due to its scrap metal value copper is an attractive target for thieves and vandals. Copper theft presents one of the biggest threats to electrical safety systems and results in escalating costs, operational downtime and threats to life and assets. This is the case for transmission lines, because their isolated location and the unattended conditions. This paper attempts to reduce copper theft in transmission line grounding systems, according to already applied measures in power utility as an alternative measure still under assessment.