Montreal’s tree-lined streets are one of the city’s greatest assets — they clean the air, add bursts of green to the scenery and help push the concrete background. But when storms hit, those trees clash with the urban landscape and are a major cause of power outages.
That’s why Hydro-Québec is now using new technologies to find a way for trees to coexist with its power lines.
Through a partnership with the Chaire ArbrenVil at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Hydro-Québec is mapping out its network using light detection and ranging laser technology, otherwise known as LiDAR, to scan an area and create three dimensional information about it.
They also test out different growth manipulation techniques to see what sticks. One of them uses stakes to get the tree to grow in a “y” shape instead of straight up. This way, the tree can have a large mass of leaves while naturally avoiding the power lines.
