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For many utilities, asset inspection and vegetation management are among the largest OPEX budget line items.
Legacy asset inspection and vegetation management protocols are often outdated and make use of a time-based approach. In the current model, for instance, a utility power line section is inspected each year. A crew is then sent out to take pictures while an unmanned drone surveys the land. The result is thousands of photos and a large amount of data for a utility asset manager to manually review for problem areas. Figuring out how all the images line up is time-consuming and costly. Finally, inspection or trim crews are sent out to tend to these potential problem areas hoping that the data they’ve been given is accurate.
Might there be a better, more efficient way to survey assets and manage vegetation?
Cue GE Digital Grid’s solution powered by 21st-century technology. GE Digital Grid’s Visual Intelligence Platform (VIP) creates a 3D visualization of the utility’s territory data. Then, the human-guided AI-driven engine factors in legacy statistics and highlights any problem areas. Next, the risk analysis is translated into a 2D map with precise locations for trimming crews to prioritize what is most important. The platform can even factor in growth rates and weather to predict problem areas six months or more in advance.
Key benefits include a 30% reduction in tree-caused outages, a 27% reduction in O&M spend, and a data productivity gain of up to 90%.
Want to learn more about Visual Intelligence and how GE Digital Grid’s platform can help your utility? Watch the video below!
Vegetation management (VM) is a critical and expensive maintenance responsibility to protect transmission and distribution infrastructure. This white paper outlines the results of a recent survey of 36 major North American electric and gas utilities concerning their satisfaction with their current vegetation management programs and recommendations for improvements.
Visual Intelligence Platform
Learn how this platform transforms how vegetation management is done and significantly reduces the cost of this vital component of a utility’s maintenance program. Lastly, learn how to create a business case for a data driven approach to VM that can achieve the following:
Mitigating threats and strengthening the Grid with AI-based vegetation & inspection programs
Achieve network-level optimization with the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning
Enable utilities to manage and orchestrate Renewables & DERs in an end-to-end manner, via flexible deployment options ranging from edge to cloud