Fiberglass Poles

In non-particularly rocky terrain, two people, without heavy machinery, can quickly dig a hole slightly deeper than one meter and erect a pole in it. No crane, no mechanical excavator, no problem. 

A support that remains functional for decades, without the need for inspections and replacements and with minimal environmental impact: no protective paints leaching into the soil, no risk of intoxication for local fauna. 

Even in very aggressive environments, these poles resist all adverse conditions without the need for costly maintenance or replacements, unlike wooden and metal poles. They are therefore very useful in coastal areas with salt spray, in saline environments like lagoons where the pole base can even be submerged during certain periods, in areas exposed to strong winds where the pole flexes significantly but always returns to its original shape, in tropical environments with high temperature and humidity, and in desert environments with high thermal excursion or extreme temperatures. 

An 8m pole weighs about 40kg, but can support the weight of an elephant (compression load 4000kg) and resist the constant pull of a pair of oxen (working force applied at the top 280-500kg): without breaking or deforming! This is why they are used for solar panels, public lighting, copper cables, line distributors, surveillance cameras, and various accessories… sometimes all on the same pole! 

Unlike wooden or concrete poles, these poles are hollow inside. This is an advantage for passing cables that need to reach the top from underground, but also for housing fiber optic distribution boxes, copper cable connection terminals, or antennas (wi-fi, 4G, 5G). 

The plastic material, mixed with self-extinguishing additives, leaves these poles unharmed by the passage of a forest fire front. Furthermore, a direct flame applied to the pole self-extinguishes in less than 5 seconds without spreading or damaging the structure. The advantage for installations in isolated rural areas is evident. 

These poles, being made of reinforced plastic material, do not conduct electricity. Therefore, they do not discharge electrical charges to the ground and have no Faraday Cage effect, so they do not insulate any antennas housed inside them. They are therefore also very useful as supports for low/medium voltage electrical grids.

The conical section of these poles, combined with the fact that they are hollow, allows them to be inserted into one another multiple times during transport. Thus, a standard curtain-sided truck, which would normally carry about 150 wooden poles, can carry up to 500 fiberglass poles (7m, nested in groups of 5). This means that the transport cost is distributed over many more units, and also that the CO2 emitted is up to 4 times lower. 

Tests conducted on this particular type of support have shown that, in the event of a vehicle collision, they dissipate the energy of movement released by the impact by bending towards the ground. This mechanism significantly attenuates the intensity of the forces on the car, limiting the danger of serious or fatal trauma to the vehicle occupants.

The glass and resin composite from which the poles are made is an inert material that can be shredded and used as insulation for construction, as a raw material for various production cycles, or even partially reused in the production of new poles thanks to new technologies under development.