While debate rages between various interest groups whether the Earth’s climate is warming, cooling, man-made or naturally caused …. one of the consequences of a warmer climate has created the circumstances where boreal forests across much of western North America are swiftly, alarmingly turning red, grey then dying. Vast expanses of vivid green forest throughout [...]
East Central Energy combines teamwork and rugged data collection hardware in project By Robert Wick December, 2009 –Like many large utilities, East Central Energy (ECE), a member-owned electric cooperative serving more than 57,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural east central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, is an amalgam of merged distribution cooperatives. In recent years, [...]
The purpose of the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Standard FAC-003 – Transmission Vegetation Management Program, is to improve the reliability of the electric transmission system. NERC believes this can be accomplished by preventing outages from vegetation located on transmission rights-of-way (ROW), maintaining clearances between transmission lines and vegetation, and reporting vegetation related outages [...]
Loss of critical knowledge and inability to find workforce replacements with utility-specific skills are the two biggest challenges facing the electric utility industry. The problem is multifaceted and there are numerous approaches …. Traditional solutions focus on long term staffing plans, partnering with universities and colleges, continuing education and training programs, and internal knowledge sharing. [...]
GeoDigital LiDAR Surveys Provide PPL Accurate, Timely Electric Transmission Vegetation Clearance Reports and Models Conditions Based on Engineering Scenarios PPL Electric Utilities Corporation’s (PPL)’s LiDAR survey to broaden its vegetation management program and further its ability to ensure compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standard FAC-003, produced clearance reports within 72 hours of [...]
By Stephen R. Cieslewicz President, CN Utility Consulting I just read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Randy Miller’s article, “Best Management Practice for Integrated Vegetation Management,” in the April 22 issue of EnergyDimensions.net covering the International Society of Arboriculture’s Best Management Practice (BMP) for Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) for electric utility rights-of-way. I believe that the publication [...]
Introduction The massive August 14, 2003, electrical power blackout was the largest outage ever experienced in North America, yet power-related disturbances continue to cost $25 – $180 billion annually. To reduce the likelihood of future system blackouts, the North American Energy Reliability Commission (NERC) created FAC-003, stringent standards governing how utility companies are to manage [...]
By Randall H. Miller Director, Vegetation Management PacifiCorp Introduction Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) is a system of managing plant communities, in which managers set objectives, identify compatible and incompatible vegetation, consider action thresholds, and evaluate, select and implement the most appropriate control method or methods to achieve set objectives. The choice of control method or [...]
