July 11, 2008 The Utility Risk Management Corporation (URMC) announced recently that the company and its exclusive partner ArborMetrics Solutions have been awarded a contract by American Electric Power (AEP) to manage and control vegetation threats on the utility’s 6,000 miles of transmission lines in 12 states. The contract provides AEP a turnkey solution for using proprietary remote sensing technologies that, when combined with URMC software and tools, will inventory AEP’s transmission assets as well as nearby vegetation that could threaten power transmission lines due to weather or normal vegetation growth, the companies say.
Using URMC’s proprietary algorithms and online software, this data is then made available to the desktop of utility company managers who can view these threats in real time and immediately act to mitigate them by deploying tree crews through ArborMetrics Solutions to the exact location using handheld GIS-enabled devices.
Federal regulations enacted after 2003 when a power line came in contact with a tree and caused major power outages throughout the Northeastern United States, place new responsibility and accountability on utilities to manage the risk that vegetation poses to the nation’s power supply, notes URMC. URMC and ArborMetrics’ risk management solution provides the utility with real-time intelligence directly to the desktop, and managers can see threats as they arise and act quickly to eliminate them, thus avoiding outages and enhancing public safety.
For more information visit URMC Web site.
