From proactive removal to AI-driven analysis, utility providers can now count on an innovative geospatial solution to anticipate hazards.
It is estimated that the US economy may lose $18bn to $33bn every year due to weather related power outages — excluding wildfire — and that many more billions are poured in inspections and cutbacks.
Monitoring vegetation growth and encroachment around powerlines is a vital requirement for utility providers to ensure the safety of their workers and the public at large. But it is also an effective solution to anticipate and prepare for potential extreme weather events.
Traditionally, vegetation along linear infrastructure has been managed by active removal. More recently, monitoring with the help of remote sensing technologies from helicopters or drones has also resulted in inefficient and costly operations that could only be performed occasionally or over a short range.
The advent of higher-resolution satellite imagery, more frequent revisit, and broader coverage has enabled satellite-based analysis to emerge as an additional proactive option for vegetation management.
In fact, today it is provided as a complete and efficient solutions, capable of even augmenting existing drone or helicopter-based insights, while also reducing costs for the end users.
LiveEO, a leading monitoring solution provider, has taken this solution a step further. By combining UP42’s high-quality satellite imagery with AI-powered risk assessment analytics, they have built a fully automated utility vegetation management solution that serves some of the biggest utility providers of the calibre of E.ON with real-time insights.
As with every innovation, LiveEO’s journey to automation has not been free of hurdles, proving to be an important learning curve about the impracticality of using “one-size-fits-all” satellites for all customers.
From data selection to acquisition and processing, the company has been faced with unprecedented challenges that have made the need for flexibility and customization a priority to solve customer’s needs with an ad hoc assessment and automated reporting.
Enter UP42: the geospatial developer platform and marketplace provided LiveEO with unique features that, paired with their existing cloud infrastructure and deep customer understanding, unlocked the full automation process through:
- A transparent one-stop with multiple data sources
- Solid APIs for AOI-based purchases
For LiveEO’s utility customers such as E.ON, this translated into a successful vegetation management solution that has enabled subcontractors saving, increased reliability and drastically decreased costs.
If you wish to know more about LiveEO’s journey to automation in utility vegetation management, don’t miss UP42’s upcoming webinar to learn more about:
- Challenges of data acquisition
- Setting up the right analytics infrastructure for your business
- How to identify and validate the ideal data sources for your solution
Secure your spot for September 16 at 11:00 AM ET by registering here.
