Utilities: Powerline Vegetation Study
Power Line Monitoring for the Energy Sector
The safe operation of its 11,000 plus kilometer transmission network is the highest priority of this transmission owner and operator. With assets located in high fire danger areas, and sections of densely vegetated transmission line corridors at risk of bushfire, risk minimization is an integral part of its asset management strategy.
The Challenge
Improving vegetation management to reduce bushfire and outage risks:
Inspecting assets and power lines for vegetation and easement encroachment from the ground is slow and expensive. Inspection through aerial survey saves time and cost and would be used to:
- Detect vegetation easement encroachment.
- Execute maintenance work related to conductor-to-vegetation clearances in all environmental conditions and loadings.
- Develop maintenance programs for effectively removing all infringement vegetation based on growth rates.
- Preparing work orders for maintenance crews
The Solution
AAM’s LiDAR network mapping services, power line and vegetation modeling and work order automation comprises these key functions and benefits:
- Precision LiDAR mapping – acquire high-definition vegetation and asset data across the transmission network.
- Power line modeling – build power line models with PLS-CADD using LiDAR data, load levels and weather conditions.
- Vegetation profiling – identify current and, by incorporating growth rate data, possible future vegetation infringement.
- Tailored scenario modeling – predict possible vegetation infringements under ‘typical’, ‘excessive’ and ‘maximum’ line load and weather conditions.
- Efficient processing of maintenance work orders – streamline maintenance contractor work orders to meet the organization’s asset management standards.
The Results
AAM’s power line mapping and modeling improved vegetation management,
increased staff deployment efficiencies and minimized risks by:
- Prioritizing vegetation maintenance tasks to enable more efficient maintenance crew deployment.
- Identifying priority infringements and creating typical to maximum conditions for risk mitigation strategies
- Creating a complete set of PLS-CADD transmission line models, ready for use in future maintenance and management tasks
- Creating a detailed, auditable vegetation management program that meets organizational, board and industry regulator standards.
- Reducing the risk of power outages, infrastructure damage and bush fires
Client
TBD
Location
TBD