Three overhead asset management best practices that support grid resilience

Electric utilities are facing tougher challenges in keeping power flowing reliably. From hurricanes to ice storms to record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires, extreme weather is hitting harder and more often, making the grid more vulnerable and raising the stakes for reliable service.

Top-performing utilities are taking a comprehensive approach to resilience, including proactive strategies, data-driven decision-making, and tapping into new technologies. Overhead distribution asset management plays a vital role in this approach.

We identified three best practices in managing overhead infrastructure that are key to successful resilience programs:

1) Conduct a Vulnerability Assessment

The first step towards a resilient grid is understanding its weaknesses. A thorough vulnerability study is crucial for identifying and prioritizing risks. This involves:

• Understanding asset health and prioritizing vulnerabilities: Assessing pole load utilization is good way to get a baseline for structural health – either system-wide or in targeted areas. Advanced structural analysis tools like IKE PoleForeman provide a simple way to complete load calculations in various scenarios and ensure your overhead distribution assets comply with safety codes like the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC). Identifying at-risk assets with high consequence ratings, such as those involving critical infrastructure, can help with prioritizing resilience improvements.
• Accounting for emerging weather patterns from changing climate conditions: It’s important to also consider the impact of emergent models on climate conditions such as extreme wind and ice, wildfire and flood zones, and changing energy demands.
• Analyzing historical storm data: Understand historical weather events and asset impacts as they can identify discrete geographic areas prone to extreme weather events or underperforming asset classes. Conduct targeted structural assessments in those areas.

By understanding asset integrity and specific risks to infrastructure, utilities can prioritize preparedness initiatives and allocate resources more effectively.

2) Use Advanced Data Collection and Analysis Tools in Inspection Programs

Regular inspections are essential for maintaining grid health, and advanced data collection and analysis tools are transforming these programs. Utilities can gain a comprehensive view of network conditions by:

• Carrying out routine inspections.
• Shifting toward predictive maintenance.
• Making infrastructure upgrades that are planned, purposeful, and prioritized.

Tools like IKE Office Pro enhance data accuracy and consistency, creating a digital record of grid infrastructure. Structural analysis software like IKE PoleForeman enables utilities to quickly assess load case requirements and ensure consistent application of design standards, leading to faster decision-making. This data-driven approach supports strategic decisions like reinforcing power lines in high-wind areas, replacing aging poles, and upgrading equipment in flood-prone zones.

3) Tap into Emerging Data-Driven Technologies

Modern technologies offer significant opportunities to enhance grid resilience. For example, AI and machine learning can help identify patterns in asset data and historical events to produce predictions that help inform utility programs and spend.

Advanced pole data acquisition and analysis tools provide the precise, structured data needed for accurate machine learning models. Detailed measurements and imagery of utility poles, structures, and surrounding environments are crucial inputs for AI models. Standardizing field-collected data ensures consistency across datasets, which is critical for training AI models and integrating with other data sources.

By embracing these data-centric technologies, utilities can proactively address vulnerabilities and build a more resilient grid.

Learn how IKE can help support grid resilience with advanced pole data and structural analysis

Brett Willitt is a Senior Vice President of Product for ikeGPS. Brett has more than 25 years of grid asset management experience and is widely considered one of the leading structural analysis and structure management experts in the US. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Clarkson University.