Due to the challenges that severe weather presents, utilities are embracing new remote sensing technology, surveying methods, and AI-enabled data management solutions that offer an upgrade path from legacy risk vegetation management programs. The management of vegetation on transmission and distribution corridors is a key to providing a safe and reliable supply of electricity. Traditional approaches to vegetation management are slower and often based on fixed annual cycles.

In this session, learn how Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) paired with GE Digital to develop a secure platform that integrates GIS, LiDAR, and analytics to create a 3D digital twin and 2D GIS-style visuals and reports. They’ve also integrated the outputs into existing work management electronic workflows to optimize field resources to make smarter and more prescriptive decisions. In their work with GE Digital, FPL transformed its program from one that relied largely on paper forms and notes in the field to a fully electronic workflow.

We’ll also explore how other utilities can leverage GE’s AI-based vegetation management solution, called Visual Intelligence. We’ll dive into the solution and explore the potential value generated by using data-driven visual images captured by many different sources (drones, fixed-wing, helicopters, satellites, humans, sensors) to drive vegetation management decisions. The vegetation management portion of Visual Intelligence enables the reduction of tree-caused outages, optimizes Operations & Maintenance trimming, and reduces data processing time.