There has been a sharp rise in the number of power transmission towers collapsing. Within the first six months of the current calendar year, as many as 75 towers tumbled — compared with 76, 24, and 16, respectively, in the preceding three years (see graphic).

Against this backdrop, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has expressed concern that many utilities are not intimating the causes of failure within 48 hours, as required. Moreover, several utilities have not submitted the detailed failure reports within a month, as mandated.

The big question is ‘Why are towers falling?’ There have been 22 tower failure incidents involving 75 towers (since more than one tower may collapse during a single event). Of these, 16 incidents involved towers that were built less than 15 years ago — even though their design life is 35 years.

The highest number of tower collapses were in Madhya Pradesh (24), of which 12 were on the Bhopal–Bina line and six on the Bhopal–Itarsi segment. Uttar Pradesh was next with 16 failures, followed by Rajasthan (10). While these failures mostly involved towers owned by State government utilities, privately owned infrastructure was not immune either — Adani (five) and ReNew (seven) towers also suffered collapses.

A standing committee of experts deliberated on the issue in September. The CEA has since released the minutes of the meeting, which show that the authority was not convinced by the utilities’ explanation that the failures were caused by high winds.

India is divided into five wind zones, with zone-5 experiencing the highest wind speeds. Yet, more failures occurred in wind zone-3 (22) than in zone-5 (four).

“The utilities failed to produce wind data in many cases of EHV transmission line tower failures which could substantiate their reasoning,” the committee observed.

While acknowledging that climate change may have increased wind speeds, the committee stressed that improved maintenance could prevent such failures. “Various deficiencies such as missing members, missing bolts, bent members, incorrect attachment of cross-arms, chimneys covered with soil, rusted stubs/members, etc, have been observed during site visits to failure locations,” it noted, calling for more frequent line patrolling.

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Published on October 27, 2025