LLW operators: the “stuntmen” of the energy sector

You can call them acrobats, tightrope walkers, or the stuntmen of the energy sector, but one thing’s for sure: they’re true professionals, highly specialised technicians with a skill unique throughout Italy. We’re talking about their ability to work on live high and extra-high voltage systems, power lines at 132, 220 or 380 thousand kilovolts that remain “on” and continue to transmit electricity. They are our Live-Line Working (LLW) operators and, despite all appearances, they do not risk it all on the job! On the contrary, they are trained to manage and control their activities safely. After all, think what their job entails: working without interrupting the flow of energy and therefore without stopping the current, to prevent outages and guarantee the highest possible levels of service quality. A job, in other words, which they could not do without rigorous training which allows them to move around with agility and safety even at 60 metres above the ground: the equivalent of a 20-storey skyscraper.

1986-2026: 40 years of LLW. Today, Terna’s team of LLW operators has over 200 members who perform their activities along the lines or on top of the immense pylons that transport high and extra-high voltage electricity throughout the national transmission grid. The 40 newest recruits officially started work in February 2026: in fact, the new operators took part in an “investiture” ceremony at Terna headquarters in Rome to mark LLW Celebration Day 2026. With these additions, their total number has risen to above 200 for the first time: a landmark record for Terna in this exclusive field of excellence, which has its training centre in Viverone, in the province of Biella. The 40 new LLW operators come from almost every part of the nation and represent an increase in the number of specialised technicians present in all Italian regions as well as a lowering of their average age, which is generally between 25 and 35 years.

The number 40 not only refers to how many technicians completed their training as LLW operators in 2025, but also represents another milestone, equally worthy of celebration: the number of years since the first time this complex activity was performed in Italy, with the first case of live-line working dating all the way back to June 1986.

Numbers on and benefits of Live-Line Working. Of all the different types of maintenance interventions carried out by Terna, live-line working is a particularly highly skilled activity that makes it possible to perform certain actions on the electricity infrastructure while the systems remain “on”. Terna has employed this technique for years, in order to guarantee the security, continuity, quality and maximum efficiency of the national electricity transmission grid. Thanks to advanced methodologies, the first-rate professional training provided to its employees and the use of specially developed equipment and tools, Terna performs an average of 1,800 interventions per year, sometimes as many as 3,000, along over 75,000 km of grid infrastructure, bringing estimated annual benefits of between €60 and €90 million to the country’s economy.

Live-line working does not serve to resolve faults, but rather to prevent them through maintenance aimed at ensuring the grid is in perfect working order, thereby avoiding outages for users. The users are the large generation plants that emit electricity into the grid, the entire distribution grid that transports it to homes and businesses, and the large industrial enterprises with direct high-voltage connection.

The school for higher training in Viverone: a long history of excellence. Over recent years, Terna has developed a level of expertise which is among the most highly accredited in Europe, ranking as a world leader in the sector for its expertise and professionalism. The company is also one of the few in Europe with a specific training centre for live-line working and one of the first in the world to have established its own laboratory with accreditation under IEC/ISO 17025 — the international standard for testing and calibration laboratories — for testing the tools and personal protective equipment used during activities.

The Terna site in Viverone, in the province of Biella, Piedmont Region, hosts one of the three electrical laboratories (the other two are in Civitavecchia, in the municipality of Rome, and Frattamaggiore, in the municipality of Naples), as well as a training facility. It’s a completely secure site, in a controlled environment, with procedures proven through years of experience. It’s the only centre of its kind in Italy, a school for higher training with cutting-edge technology: in fact, Terna has the only technicians in Italy qualified for live-line working on high and extra-high voltage power lines, with special ministerial authorisation.

The journey to becoming an LLW operator. At the centre in Viverone, training takes place on infrastructure that simulates the work that future operators will carry out for real. It’s a site with a long history: it was originally a pumped hydroelectric plant in the early 1900s. The centre is nestled among the mountains, while the training facility sits around the old upper reservoir, Lake Bertignano, where LLW operators undergo training and climb to dizzying heights under the guidance of the teaching staff.

Before they can teach live-line working, the instructors go through a process to certify the technical skills they must impart, rounded out with the acquisition of the necessary educational skills, and sit a final exam to obtain certification under standard IEC/ISO 17034. All this helps to overcome the fear of touching a line through which current is flowing, and to learn to move with confidence in a job that demands immense technical skill and compliance with strict protocols. Subsequent stages allow the acquisition of further, increasingly specialised skills, such as how to work from a basket with an insulating arm — a platform that makes it safe to work close to live conductors — or how to become a "senior operative", a figure similar to the foreman on a construction site.

When operators work on pylons, they wear orange clothing to make their movements more visible, as well as the insulating elements they use. It is essential, for example, to keep a distance of a few metres from a 380 kV conductor. For this reason, fibreglass rods filled with polyurethane foam are used, each of which is subject to annual certification by accredited testing centres.