AWARDS FINALIST: Helisaw – A safer, smarter way to manage trees and lines

Helisaw operations developed by The Lines Company and Lakeview Helicopters have slashed tree-trimming costs by up to 85 per cent.

Using technology developed overseas, the firms have trialled the saws - suspended from helicopters - at five sites on the TLC network and have developed operating guidelines for the potentially game-changing opportunity for New Zealand's distribution and forestry sectors.

The idea was born from necessity. TLC's network spans 13,700 square kilometres of rugged central North Island landscape, with more than 269 km of lines running through dense forestry blocks.

The company spends about $1.6 million a year on vegetation management.

But with more land moving into commercial forests and carbon farms, the costs and safety risks from sending arborists into remote areas and up trees with chainsaws were increasingly unsustainable.

Trial run

In April last year, TLC trialled a helisaw from Lakeview Helicopters in Kuratau.

The results were extraordinary; 950 metres of radiata pine were trimmed in just over an hour, compared to an estimated 10 days using ground crews. The helisaw proved to be up to 12 times faster, 85 per cent cheaper and far safer.

Since then, TLC has used the helisaw on multiple jobs, embedding it as a core part of its vegetation management strategy. Vegetation accounts for about a third of all the firm's outages.

The benefits are clear. Helisaw operations drastically reduce the need for arborists to work at height in hazardous conditions or to navigate steep terrain on foot with heavy equipment.

A pilot and support crew can complete the same job in a fraction of the time.

Lakeview's pilots, each with more than 5000 hours of flying experience, operate the saws with precision.

TLC says each job is meticulously planned, working to a joint health and safety management plan developed by the firms, which can be adapted for specific site conditions.

Safety

An aviation consultant helped create a helicopter guide specific to TLC's network, ensuring every operation meets the highest safety standards.

TLC says the helisaw's versatility is another strength. It can side-trim, top or dismantle trees piece by piece - even in areas with limited or no ground access. In one case, a 1.6-kilometre corridor of 24-year-old pines was trimmed in less than two hours.

In another case, a job that would have taken 600 hours of ground-crew time was completed in just six.

TLC says the helisaw will support the upcoming "clear-to-sky" regulations, which require full vertical clearance of trees around power lines - something almost impossible to achieve with traditional methods.

There is already growing interest from forestry operators, and the firms are now advocating for wider adoption of this technology across the electricity sector.

The annual Energy Excellence Awards will be held in Wellington on 13 August. The Innovation in Energy Award is sponsored by Ara Ake.