Improved vegetation management and more resilient electric grids through satellites and artificial intelligence.
Through the GridEyeS project with HVL, eSmart, European Space Agency (ESA) and ENTSO-e, StormGeo is researching and developing a new satellite and drone technology approach to vegetation management.
Go beyond manual grid inspections based on a calendar rotation, and prioritize your maintenance based on a machine-learning algorithm that identifies high-risk areas so that you can more efficiently allocate resources.
Through the streamlined end-to-end system, GridEyeS aims to maximize drone surveillance planning, resilience assessment and post-event restoration planning by reducing the amount of “hit or miss” inspections with the use of LiDAR and imagery from helicopters and drones.
Improper line maintenance leads to outages and increased wildfire spark risks. The goal of GridEyeS is to break down the barriers of efficient grid maintenance by bringing together experts across disciplines and combining state of the art techniques such as dynamic weather predictions and load forecasting, artificial intelligence and satellite-based decision making.
Using satellite images to analyze and predict the influence of vegetation on the risk level in power grids is a high-priority research axis, as vegetation is a main factor for grid disturbance. Furthermore, the potential for using satellite-based information is broad and could, for example, also be exploited for subsidence detections along power line trails.Knut H. H. Johansen
CEO of eSmart Systems
Vegetation management is one of the largest operating expenses for many power distribution utilities. Current processes are highly manual and work intensive utilizing helicopters, drones and crews visually inspecting all sections of the utility line. Improper line maintenance leads to increased weather and vegetation induced outages, and a heightened risk for wildfire ignition.
Through the GridEyeS project with HVL, eSmart, European Space Agency (ESA) and ENTSO-e, StormGeo is researching and developing a new satellite and drone technology approach to vegetation management. It shows promise to significantly reduce inspection and vegetation management costs by well over $100 per mile of line per year while also reducing the risks of wildfire. GridEyeS uses AI to process low-cost government satellite images, commercial high-resolution satellite images, and drone imagery, so that each tree’s risk metadata such as distance from line, height, health, and growth rate, can be used to classify the risk levels for all of the vegetation along the grid.
The project aims to create an end to end electric grid monitoring platform to give electric utilities and transmission companies more accurate risk assessments, faster outage management and better restoration strategies.
Protect assets and people with early, accurate severe weather monitoring and alerts.
Flooding, lightning, wind and snow can be major business disruptions for weather-sensitive operations. StormGeo provides site-specific monitoring and alerts to protect your assets and employees. Receive daily threat reports forecasting severe weather conditions, and user-defined color-coded alerts for imminent threats.