Latvia plans wider power line clearances, requiring 230,000 trees to be cut

Latvia is considering widening cleared corridors along power lines, a change that would require about 230,000 trees to be felled, LSM reported. The proposal follows an August storm that disrupted electricity supplies to more than 280,000 households.

Latvia’s parliament Economic Affairs Committee has proposed fast-tracking amendments to the Protection Zone Law. The changes would widen the cleared strip along overhead power lines from 13 metres to 18 metres on each side of the line’s centre. The existing 35-metre protection zone would remain unchanged.

Augstsprieguma tīkls, the electricity transmission company, says five additional metres should be sufficient. Its initial analysis found that falling trees growing within 18 metres of the centre of 110-kilovolt overhead lines caused 71% of the damage to those lines during the August storm.

The company also analysed power disruptions on 110-kilovolt lines between 2014 and 2024. It found that 83% of trees that fell onto the lines and caused outages had been growing within five metres of the edge of the line corridor, or 18 metres from its centre.

Under the current law, the protection zone for power lines below 110 kilovolts is 35 metres wide, while the strip cleared of trees and shrubs extends 13 metres on each side of the line’s centre. The 110-kilovolt lines carry electricity from major power plants and international transmission networks to regional substations, which then supply consumers.