ATLANTA, May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- GeoDigital, a
big spatial data and analytics company, announced today its
transmission industry vegetation solution has been selected by PPL
Electric Utilities.
The Pennsylvania-based utility,
which provides electricity to 1.4 million customers and manages
approximately 5,000 miles of transmission network, will implement
the end-to-end pre-configured vegetation management solution. The
solution combines GeoDigital's LiDAR-based 3D mapping, analytics,
and location-based work management software to meet overall
vegetation management objectives including reliability, efficiency
and safety.
"GeoDigital's solution will provide us with a complete, timely
and precise picture of the vegetation surrounding our critical
transmission assets, allowing us to improve reliability by
precisely managing the vegetation with a high risk of causing an
outage, better coordinating line maintenance efforts for the
convenience of our customers, and reducing our overall vegetation
management program costs," said
Adam Morse, Vegetation Manager at
PPL Electric Utilities
"Trees are the number one cause of outages during storms and PPL
has been working with GeoDigital for a number of years as part of
our ongoing commitment to system reliability. We reduced
tree-related outages by 18 percent in 2014 compared to the average
of the previous 10 years. Now that GeoDigital has combined all of
the capabilities into a single solution, we believe we can further
increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our vegetation
management program."
"PPL Electric Utilities has been a valued partner of GeoDigital
for many years and an early adopter of vegetation mapping for NERC
compliance," said Chris Warrington, GeoDigital's CEO. "GeoDigital
is proud that such an innovative utility has selected our
transmission industry solution to help streamline the entire
vegetation management process - setting a new standard for North
American utilities in their quest to further improve reliability,
safety, customer service, efficiency and compliance." Warrington
continues, "Every industry needs people with vision, passion and
leadership. PPL Electric Utilities clearly demonstrates these
attributes with this decision."
Recent regulatory changes such as FAC-003-3 reflect the need for
utilities to improve the precision and effectiveness of their
vegetation programs to further increase reliability. Former NERC
Senior Investigator Robert Novembri stated, "Having evaluated the
GeoDigital solution and determining that it has the capability to
support FAC-003-3 compliance, it is great to see its adoption and
implementation by leading utilities like PPL. Combining an annual
reflight program on NERC critical lines with vegetation analytics,
work management, and planning software provides a solution that
supports utilities with attaining full compliance with FAC-003-3.
It is critical that the industry leverage technology to protect the
bulk power system in North America
from vegetation related outages. GeoDigital's transmission solution
represents a significant step in addressing this critical
need."
GeoDigital's Transmission industry solution for vegetation
management is the industry's first preconfigured solution and is
designed to improve system reliability with precision vegetation
management, reduce cost of vegetation management programs and
support compliance with FAC-003-3. The solution spans the
geospatial lifecycle including GeoDigital Digitize – precision
survey and mapping using LiDAR and high definition imagery updated
on an annual basis, GeoDigital Analyze - patented analytics to
predict and prioritize vegetation which could create the risk of an
outage, GeoDigital Explore - the ability to explore these insights
in 3D, and GeoDigital Work - to turn insight into action with
location-based work management software. By providing
precision insights, GeoDigital can help utilities prioritize and
predict vegetative threats to improve reliability, reduce
vegetation management costs, and simplify compliance.
About GeoDigital
GeoDigital, a big spatial data and
analytics company, helps industries efficiently manage critical
assets and the world around them. GeoDigital's innovative solutions
combine 3D maps - built on remote sensing and imaging technologies
such as LiDAR - with patented analytics and location-based work
management software. By providing precision insights, GeoDigital
enables customers to predict threats and prioritize actions to
solve complex geospatial challenges. With data-driven confidence,
GeoDigital helps to guide people, autonomous cars, machines and
infrastructure more safely, reliably and productively.
Founded in 2005, GeoDigital has operations in the United States, Canada, and Australia and its investors include NGP Energy
Technology Partners, North Sky Capital, EnerTech Capital and
Emerald Technology Ventures. Visit GeoDigital.com to find out
more.
About PPL Electric Utilities
PPL Electric Utilities, a
subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), provides electric
delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania and consistently ranks among the
best companies for customer service in the United States. More information is
available at www.pplelectric.com.
About Robert
Novembri
Robert
Novembri is the Founder and President of Novembri
Consulting, LLC and a former Senior Investigator for the North
American Electric Reliability Corporation. Robert has 45 years of
utility experience and over 26 years of experience in the utility
arboriculture field. Robert formerly served as Partner and CEO at
CN Utility Consulting, LLC and as the Director of Vegetation
Management Operations at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. More
information is available at www.novembriconsulting.com.
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SOURCE GeoDigital