Smart Grid Technology’s Impact on Vegetation Management

With the advent of Smart Grid technology electric utilities will no longer be dependent on customers to report outages. Smart Grid sensing devices will in many instances (particularly in the case of vegetation management) be able to anticipate an outage prior to the initiating event. With respect to vegetation management and depending on the actual sensors deployed:

• Electric utilities will be able report vegetation contact prior to a tree falling on a line; and as such,
• Be able to identify geographic areas as high priority for enhanced tree trimming.

Enhanced Vegetation Management

There are a number of technologies in use or under development that will potentially reduce the frequency and duration of “tree preventable” and “tree non-preventable” outages. These technologies include:

• Fault Indicators that help locate a specific interruption
• Fault Location Sensors not only help locate a specific interruption, they also provide information on the type of outage. In the case of vegetation management, the sensors will locate specifically where a tree limb comes into contact with a main or tap line
• Distribution Fault Indicator use signal processing technology to detect instances where a tree (or other form of vegetation) is touching a circuit
• Fault Signatures and Wave Forms can be analyzed to better determine the cause of a fault
• Advanced Meters can be used to monitor the momentary outages (many of which are caused by vegetation).

By being able to anticipate a potential outage to the point that vegetation related contact can be anticipated, electric utilities will have the opportunity to:

• Better prioritize and implement enhanced tree trimming and remove the potential causes prior to customers experiencing interruptions,
• Reduce vegetation caused outages, and
• In the event that vegetation related outages occur, significantly reduce the time required to restore service.