By Satish Saini, HEXstream utility industry specialist

Forest management is currently making headlines, spurred both by the recent wildlfires in California and utilities' ongoing vegetation-management struggles.

The Fix Our Forests Act is crucial step going forward, as the energy / utility industry strives to overcome neverending vegetation growth on and around grid infrastructure, compromising distribution reliability and the safety of consumers. But there are still many examples of delayed utility projects—and even hindered vegetation-management programs—caused by regulations. My hope is that we can better work together to meet our shared safety and efficiency goals, while being mindful of the environmental impacts and issues as well.

Vegetation-related outages are particularly frequent during severe weather events like hurricanes or high winds, where fallen trees and branches can knock out power lines or cause short-circuits that lead to fires. By some estimates and in some areas, up to 70% of outages during these events have been linked to trees and vegetation. Translation—they can be prevented.

The Fix Our Forests Act will help utilities in their steps toward grid hardening and wildfire-mitigation procedures. Power providers can better address hazards on utilities' rights-of-way, more effectively maintain their assets, and properly protect the communities they serve.

But utilities still need to develop and implement appropriate strategies and operating / maintenance procedures powered by smart new technologies and data-driven services. Governance is great, but advanced analytics plays a significant role for effective vegetation management in the transmission and distribution utility sector.

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US TO LEARN ABOUT HEXSTREAM'S VEGETATION-MANAGEMENT SERVICES.