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The composite material used to manufacture RS™ poles absorbs significant elastic strain energy in high load situations which is designed to harden the grid and mitigate the threat of extreme weather events like tornadoes, hurricanes, wind bursts and ice storms.

Case in point, in December 2021, a series of record-setting tornadoes tore through Western Kentucky. After the tornadoes had passed Hopkinsville, within the service territory of Pennyrile RECC, over two miles of 13kV wood distribution poles laid on the ground from wind load induced cascade failure. Back in 2012, Pennyrile had installed three RS composite poles near a substation, and it was those same RS poles that stopped three different cascading wood pole failure events, preventing further damage to the system and protecting critical substation components.

More than any other pole material type, you can count on RS composite poles to deliver resilient performance in critical grid hardening applications.

Tornado-induced cascade wood pole failure and the RS dead end pole holding up the adjacent wood pole
Tornado-induced cascade wood pole failure and the RS dead end pole holding up the adjacent wood pole.
The RS pole returned to vertical following the replacement of failed wood poles.
The RS pole returned to vertical following the replacement of the failed wood poles.