AltaLink, L.P. is responsible for electric power delivery to more than 50% of the population of the province of Alberta, Canada, providing power to more than 800,000 direct and indirect customers. It owns and operates 11,000 km (6835 miles) of transmission lines at voltages ranging from 69 to 500 kV, with the 240-kV network forming the system's backbone. AltaLink's service area in southern Alberta is characterized mostly by flat open terrain, with frequent steady winds from all directions depending on the season. Many of the 240-kV circuits are on double-circuit, steel-lattice, L-Towers, which were designed in the 1960s and extensively applied in the 1970s and 1980s. There are about 3000 of these L-Towers supporting twin-bundle and single-conductor lines in AltaLink's transmission network. These are relatively light towers and use fewer bracings than the utility's other tower designs (Figure 1).
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