4 Key Principles of Resilient Operations Programs

This year in Orlando, the DISTRIBUTECH stage welcomed vegetation and data experts from four utilities who shared how they're harnessing Overstory’s vegetation intelligence to set their operations programs up for success both today and long-term. Despite a wide range of geographies, resources, and challenges, they all agreed on four key principles that drive operational resilience. 

1. Technology can’t completely replace humans. The right tech supercharges their expertise.

Using vegetation intelligence tech like Overstory to pinpoint the areas that matter, vegetation management teams at PG&E, SMUD, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, and Powder River Energy Corporation are focusing their limited human resources on the most impactful areas of their network.

Forest health is increasingly threatened by extreme weather conditions, insect infestations, and disease, so it’s more important than ever to guide human expertise strategically.

PG&E’s Kamran Rasheed said of Overstory’s analysis, “it’s handy to see where there is a greater density of trees and where trees are dying to guide our work. If we don’t have that data, all 80,000 or 100,000 [trees that could fall into the line] would get the same treatment. Now, I know where I have no trees and where I have a lot of trees, so I can cater my program accordingly.”

Remote sensing technologies provide more accurate analyses of a utility’s vegetation and assets than a human can, but no drone or satellite can do the hard work of trimming trees. Arborists’ deep understanding of trees and local ecosystems play an indispensable role in building effective models based on remote sensing data. Those models help teams make faster, better-informed decisions about vegetation management. 

“Sure, you can always throw more boots, trucks, and chainsaws at these challenges. But frankly, [these technologies] will drive the improvements when you get right down to it,” said Eric Brown (SMUD), “Even the best forester or arborist with the best laser rangefinder is a couple feet off. And that’s on their best day, if they’re not working in foggy conditions or the batteries in their rangefinder are low. Providing these folks more accurate information is critical. This intelligence has been a gamechanger and, actually, a huge morale booster for our team.”

2. Innovating today is the only way to meet the growing challenges of tomorrow.

Risk aversion in utilities makes sense—especially given the criticality of their operations. Unfortunately, though, the traditional vegetation management programs that worked in the past are suited for a world that no longer exists. 

Today’s operations landscape (faced with labor challenges, unpredictable weather, and regulatory concerns, among others) demands a culture of continuous improvement and innovation from utilities hoping to keep pace.

With the help of technology, utilities can use data to tackle these challenges methodically. Rather than ignoring the hurdles of the changing landscape (or overextending their workforce and budget) they can drive incremental innovation within their organizations, staying ahead of emerging challenges and cultivating a mindset of adaptability along the way.

Powder River Energy Corporation’s Brenda Green explained: “This technology helps us to better understand our system ourselves. It enables us to explain to our board and members both the current state of the system and what we’re doing to improve it.”

3. Data-driven decision making builds stronger relationships with stakeholders and customers.

The vegetation management practices of the past weren’t built for the weather, labor, or reliability challenges we face now. Between 2015 and 2020, utility vegetation management expenses grew from 55% to 75% of their overhead maintenance costs. And, according to T&D World, 54.4% of workers in vegetation management voluntarily left their positions in the last five years. 

Utility operations leaders today are tasked with accomplishing much more with much less. Customers and internal stakeholders don’t have the same depth of familiarity with those challenges that operations leaders do, but objective vegetation data can help foster a shared understanding in the midst of that changing landscape.

SMUD’s Eric Brown recommends taking data to executives, insurance providers, and regulators. Give them a timeline and a budget, and use vegetation intelligence to measure how much risk a team can quantifiably reduce. “Catastrophic events are not often happening inside easements or the right of way. Look at all the major fires—most of those conditions happen outside the ROW . . . [Because of that,] data sets and analytics with rock-solid accuracy are the foundation that has proved itself over and over again in the last five years with our insurers and underwriters.” 

And while no technology will show all types of risk with 100% accuracy, a foundational, network-wide overview is critical for more effective conversations with insurers and senior leaders.

Powder River Energy Corporation also uses vegetation intelligence to inform wildfire mitigation efforts across a vast and fire-prone territory in Wyoming. With a limited vegetation budget to work with, spending every penny on greatest impact matters.

“Once you’re aware of the problems on your system, you have to do something about them,” noted Brenda Green (PRECorp). “You have to get your board and executive management involved so you can understand what the budget will look like and start to get people involved. Then you can understand how to digest it, what you’re gonna do about it, and how you use the data to interact with different stakeholders.”

Outside wildfire mitigation, operations teams are also using this data to streamline trimming cycles, improve contractor relationships, and optimize their budgets. Beyond just seeing where on their network they have high risk, they’re benefitting from visibility into low-risk areas where they can reallocate resources.

4. Prioritize spending smarter—not less.

In the case of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, targeting live trees outside the right of way is priority number one for improving reliability.

“Our outages were caused by live trees outside the right of way on blue sky, sunny days.  We did a 20% sample of outages over the last three years, and we continue to collect that data. Of 443,000+ trees that could strike, there were 1,500 that showed a decline in chlorophyll. So [that data] took it from a landscape to a local scale. Those hard and fast numbers help you to make better decisions,” said Cindy Musick.

Across the utility industry, innovative technologies like smart metering, SCADA systems, and load forecasting have lent themselves to more efficient, affordable power. 

Vegetation management is one of the largest O&M line items, but it often lags significantly behind other parts of the industry in terms of advanced technology and analytics. By implementing tech that empowers data-driven decision making, utilities can focus on prioritizing safe and reliable power long term to maximize impact within their existing budgets and better serve their communities. 

When asked how better vegetation data affects the way SMUD serves their community, Brown said, “Because we're community-owned, [we have to ensure] our community owners are getting value for what they pay for. I’m also looking at it from the arborist’s perspective. Do they need to go into a yard where someone has a dog or where there’s history with a customer? If I don’t need to go into their yard, I’m not interrupting [the customer], and I’m certainly not putting one of our team members in an unsafe situation.” 

SMUD, like others, uses this intelligence to streamline human resources for quality control so they minimize repeat field visits. But better vegetation intelligence drives a wide variety of VM use cases, including cycle optimization, contractor bidding, and, of course, wildfire mitigation, to name just a few.

Laser focusing vegetation management efforts with vegetation intelligence gives teams like Rappahannock, PG&E, Powder River, and SMUD the opportunity to transform the way they’re tackling their team’s biggest resource and reliability challenges.

Brown reflected: “I want to be able to go to sleep at night and say, absolutely, the biggest O&M budget in our entire organization is vegetation management, and we’re spending that budget in the right spots at the right times for the right reasons.”

Special thanks to our panelists for lending their time and expertise to both this panel and our community.

Eric Brown, T&D Manager Grid Assets — Vegetation Management, SMUD
Kamran Rasheed, Director Vegetation Asset Strategy & Analytics, PG&E
Brenda Green, Program Manager, Powder River Energy Corporation
Cindy Musick, Director, Vegetation Management, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative