Utility Vegetation Management Application DESIGNING A MOBILE GEOSPATIAL

Utility Vegetation Management Application DESIGNING A MOBILE GEOSPATIAL APPLICATION TO STREAMLINE FIELD COLLECTION & RECORDKEEPING Joshua De. Wees

Agenda I. Goals II. Definition III. Vegetation Impacts IV. Distribution Utility V. Spoon River Electric: Case Study VI. Prototype Design Strategy VII. Information Products VIII. Timeline

Project Goals §Create a prototype mobile application to streamline the Utility Vegetation Management field survey process by improving: § Consistency in quantifying vegetation § Record keeping and customer related notes § Documentation of performed work

Utility Vegetation Management (VM) §One of the most expensive maintenance activities in the electric utility business §Necessary for safety and reliability §Requires a dedicated program with a good planning strategy §Requires detailed records to track spatial characteristics over time (species, volume and location)

Vegetation Impacts on Distribution Lines §Direct contact §Overhanging Branches §Underbrush that prevents access

Direct Contact

Overhanging Branches

Underbrush

Distribution Electric Systems §Vegetation cause faults that are transient or constant §High current faults can trigger system protection devices ( fuses, reclosers, etc) §Faults result in outages, blinking lights, voltage anomalies, and line loss §Faults also cause customer dissatisfaction, economic disturbance, and regulatory issues §Proper vegetation management minimizes faults from trees and animals and reduces customer and regulatory issues

Spoon River Electric Cooperative §Operates Vegetation Management program for three rural electric cooperatives in central Illinois § 15 Vegetation Management employees split into two operation units §Use Esri GIS and handheld GPS to track and document the vegetation management program. This process involves several manual steps to get from the field to the database §Model uses linear referencing and route event table to describe the work

Spoon River Electric: Current Processes Planning process § Collect GPS points of locations where vegetation management is needed § Make handwritten notes about equipment, access, steepness, percent canopy, and special notes § Transcribe all handwritten notes into the GIS database § Print maps for the crews §Record keeping process § Collect GPS record of location § Indicate point number and work performed on written worksheet § Transcribe the work notes into the GIS database to mark the work that is completed § Calculate work footage for the board of directors report

Field Sheet

Database Structure ((Access+Truck+Chipper+Mower+Manual+Herbicide+Steepness )x Spans) x Canopy

Field Map

Prototype Design

Prototype Design §Design a survey for the cooperative managers in the Illinois electric cooperatives § Establish the current methods used at cooperatives in Illinois to budget, plan and complete vegetation management activities § Identify technology tools that are used for planning and documenting these activities § Identify the primary person responsible for managing these activities at each cooperative §Evaluate Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions §Consider options for the server implementation § Cloud § In-house behind a firewall

Prototype Design §Create a paper prototype to identify a user friendly form for data entry §Evaluate this with current Spoon River employees

Prototype Design §Electronic prototype requirements: § Mobile by tablet or smart phone § Capable of disconnected editing § Capable of synchronizing with the distributed database when reconnected § Easy to use for employees in the field

Primary Information Products §Maps for communicating the work type and location to the field crews §Records showing daily progress and long term maintenance history §Estimates for work-units describing each substation or circuit

Product 1 §This product should answer a job foreman’s question: §Where are the trees and what equipment will I need to clear them?

Product 2 §This product should answer a line clearance manager’s questions: §Is the work completed? §When was it completed? §Were there any problems or concerns from the members that need to be documented?

Product 3 §This product should answer a CEO or board of directors’ questions: §How long should this take? §How much will it cost? §How did we perform against our budget for this work?

Capstone Timeline §The timeline for this prototype/design phase is approximately six months. §Month seven will be dedicated to the conclusion of the design approach and preparing to share my results at Esri UC in San Diego. §I hope to have a working prototype to show for the conference.

Thank You! Questions?

References: http: //www. arbormetricssolutions. com/library/arborline_handout_final_reduced. pdf http: //clearion. com/? page_id=176 http: //ieeexplore. ieee. org/xpl/login. jsp? tp=&arnumber=4700014&url=http%3 A%2 F%2 Fieeexplore. ieee. or g%2 Fxpls%2 Fabs_all. jsp%3 Farnumber%3 D 4700014 http: //ieeexplore. ieee. org/xpl/login. jsp? tp=&arnumber=5594887&url=http%3 A%2 F%2 Fieeexplore. ieee. or g%2 Fxpls%2 Fabs_all. jsp%3 Farnumber%3 D 5594887 http: //www. terra-spectrum. com/Insight. VM. aspx http: //www. terra-spectrum. com/ http: //www. directionsmag. com/pressreleases/electric-utilities-benefit-from-vegetation-managementsoftware/409433 http: //trid. trb. org/view. aspx? id=1146791

References: 1. “Utility Vegetation Management Final Report”; CN Utility Consulting, LLC; March 2004 2. “Beyond Status Quo”; Rick Johnstone; Vistas (a trade publication); http: //www. ivmpartners. org/pubs/beyond_statusquo. pdf; accessed 11/09/2014 3. “The Economic Impacts of Deferring Electric Utility Tree Maintenance”; D. Mark Browning; Environmental Consultants, Inc. ; April 1997 4. “Integrated Vegetation Management on an Electric Transmission Right-of-way in Pennsylvania, U. S. ”; Richard H. Yahner and Russell J. Hutnick; Journal of Arboriculture; September 2004 5. “UAA Best Management Practices Funding”, Lynn Grayson ; http: //www. utilityarborist. org/research/resources/funding. WP. pdf; accessed 11/09/2014 6. “Reliability Based Vegetation Management Through Intelligent System Monitoring”; B. Don Russell, Carl L. Benner, and Jeffrey Wischkaemper; Project T-27 Tele-seminar, 10/16/2007, accessed 11/09/2014