Minimizing Power Grid Disruption Impact with a Two-Pronged Approach

There’s simply no denying that severe weather is increasing across the globe. Just look at the past six months – we’ve seen:

• Destructive hailstorms in Texas and Minnesota
• Biblical-scale floods in Vermont
• A Category 3 hurricane in the Southeastern U.S.

And that’s just a few of them. All of these events had two things in common: they were intensified by climate change, and they caused numerous power grid disruptions.

As a utility leader, you set the strategy for your organization and have to provide reliable service on both blue and dark sky days. It’s crucial to continually improve your disruption preparedness strategies so that you can keep the lights on for your customers.

To achieve this, your utility preparedness strategy should essentially be two strategies in one: a long-term plan that happens throughout the year, and a short-term plan that kicks in when the storm appears on the radar. Let’s take a look at both.

Every utility practices some degree of vegetation management throughout the year, which is critical in preparing for disruptions like major storms and wildfires. Identifying and trimming vegetation to maintain and increase minimum clearances between vegetation and powerlines that could potentially threaten your power assets during a disruptive event, greatly reduces the chances of a disruption happening at all.

But is your vegetation management strategy using latest cost-effective digital technologies?

The strength of a vegetation management strategy can be measured in two terms:

• Effectiveness. Are you targeting the right areas, as well as the right vegetation? When you dispatch a trimming crew to a given area, are you confident they will trim in the right spot to eliminate the risk of damage?

• Efficiency. You probably don’t even need to look at your P&L statement to know that vegetation management is one of your largest single O&M expenses. That’s why it’s critical to drill down and take a hard look at opportunities to improve efficiency. Do you dispatch your trimming crews to the exact areas where vegetation threatens your assets, knowing the exact amount of work to be done? Or do you employ a multi-year trim cycle, not fully understanding the risks or work until the job is dispatched?

You can maximize both of the above by leveraging the right intelligent utility Vegetation Management software.

What defines the “right” software? Typically, it’s one that leverages advanced technology to improve precision and visibility. An example is Visual Intelligence, a GE Vernova Grid Software solution. 

To start, Visual Intelligence  can take in data from virtually any type of scan to create a clear picture of vegetation growth. Then, within the same interface, the solution overlays the vegetation scans on top of a digital map of your entire power network, from generation to distribution. Behind a single pane of glass, your workforce can see exactly where vegetation growth is expected to pose a threat to your assets. Armed with these insights, your trimming crews know exactly where to go and exactly what to trim when they get to the site. This increased precision helps improve both efficiency and effectiveness.

An effective and efficient vegetation management strategy certainly puts you in a better place to withstand disruptions. But as we all know; you can’t control severe weather – nor can you guarantee it will never cause a power grid disruption. Thus, every disruption preparedness strategy needs a short-term element – a plan you can activate just before the storm hits and take some final actions to limit the impact.

This is a perfect use case for impact forecasting technology. Impact forecasting is a key capability of Disruption Readiness – the first of GE Vernova’s collection of Grid Software solutions for before, during, and after disruptive events.

Disruption Readiness gives you the clearest picture of how your network will likely be impacted up to 72 hours before a disruptive event hits. It does this by using local, real-time forecasts to determine the event’s trajectory through your area. It then draws on the same type of network mapping technology within Visual Intelligence to check if any power infrastructure is in the event’s path. Finally, it analyzes more detailed forecast data and historical outage reports to predict with remarkable accuracy which of your assets are likely to be damaged.

With this advance notice, you can take the necessary actions to protect vulnerable assets, stage your people and resources out of harm’s way, and other essential tasks. This makes a huge difference in the ultimate impact of a disruptive event, minimizing damages, outages, costs, and chaos during your recovery.