Practicing for an emergency

Professional fire department climbs 380 kV pylons

Andreas Rosenlechner from the professional fire department climbed the high master of the 380 kV line for the first time.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Work on the Salzburg 380 kV power line is entering its final phase. The mammoth project should be completed as early as next year. The professional fire department has now been deployed - for training purposes. . . 

"Everything is shaking, you can't really secure yourself. It's absolutely unfamiliar." Even for Andreas Rosenlechner, this operation is something completely new. The experienced height rescuer from the professional fire department is currently rehearsing an emergency with his comrades in Elsbethen-Höhenwald. The men are climbing the pylons of the newly erected 380 kV power line, shimmying along the ropes at dizzying heights. Because a paraglider has become entangled in the power line!

Practicing at dizzying heights(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Of course, this scenario is purely fictitious. "It's unlikely that something like this will happen - but it's not impossible. We have to be prepared," says Fire Director Reinhold Ortler. They are always in close consultation with the 380 kV operator Austrian Power Grid (APG). "In an emergency, APG must ensure that the lines are de-energized. Only then can our height rescuers climb the pylons," emphasizes Ortler.

Electricity should then flow through the lines from mid-2025. After almost a quarter of a century of planning, protests and objections, the major project is entering its final phase. "We are on schedule," says APG spokesperson Fritz Wöber.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Almost all of the 449 pylons are finished. "The line is essential for the energy transition. The expansion of renewable energies is progressing. It is becoming increasingly important to get the surplus electricity to the pumped storage power plants quickly."