Turning down the heat: Using drones to mitigate wildfire risk | Skydio Ascend '24
Listen in as Alex Ramirez, VP of Customer Experience at AEP and Mike Spengler, UAS Program Manager at Idaho Power explore cutting-edge technologies to improve wildfire preparedness and response within the utility sector. You’ll learn how forward-looking organizations will use remotely operated drones to safeguard utility assets and hear real-world case studies that highlight best practices to reduce wildfire risks and improve the safety and reliability of essential services.
Learn more about how to improve reliability and resilience in utilities.
- Well, thank you. I know it's the, uh, getting to the, nearing the end here,
- and, uh, I appreciate everybody still, uh, still showing up and
- participating. Um, really appreciate, uh, the,
- the event today, and, uh, looking really forward to this session.
- Um, it's very timely. I feel like we're in a season, in, in the
- midst of a wildfire season right now that has been really,
- really challenging. So, um, anyways, um, my name is Seth
- Hutcherson. I lead our utilities practice here at
- Skydio, um, and
- really excited to be hosting this session today.
- We've got two experts, um, and they bring very unique,
- um, very, very unique experiences.
- And so, um, I'm gonna introduce, uh, both Mike Spangler and
- Alex Ramirez, uh, to the stage here today.
- Uh, Mike is, uh, is, been with Idaho Power for many,
- many years, and Alex with AEP. So to kick it off,
- uh, I'm gonna have, uh, Mike go ahead and do quick introductions.
- Yeah. Hi, everybody. I'm Mike Spangler. I work for Idaho Power Company.
- Um, I've been with them for thirty-eight
- years, and, um, I
- head our UAS, uh, program, uh, manage that.
- And, uh, but long career through mostly power
- delivery
- side. Uh, so
- actually starting as a custodian at the company [laughs] , working my way up
- through transformer mechanic, substation work, uh,
- lines work, uh, line crew, um, power quality.
- Um, so, uh, a broad, uh, uh,
- area that I've worked under, and, uh, for probably the last
- five and a half, six years, I've been leading, uh, the UAS program
- here at the company.
- Fantastic.
- And Alex, you wanna introduce yourself?
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Yeah.
- Yes, Alex Ramirez. I'm part of the AEP Texas group.
- Uh, we're glad to be here. We got a part of the crew here also on the
- sta- uh, on
- the, uh, with the audience, uh, joining us today.
- Those are the guys that make, uh, make stuff happen.
- Um, and so very, very blessed to, uh, be working with a fine
- team. Uh, my role is, uh, vice president of customer experience,
- and in this role, what we've done at AEP Texas, uh,
- is pretty interesting. So we have the customer facing group
- coupled with the
- technology solutions team, and so we often look for ways to improve
- that
- customer experience and make sure we're delivering value to
- our communities.
- My background is primarily on the distribution operations engineering side,
- and so
- I started with the company, it, with the engineering group,
- moved over to resource
- planning, uh, work scheduling, uh, spent some time at the regulatory
- side, and, uh, manage one of the five districts at AEP
- Texas.
- So, uh, through my career of twenty years, I've learned quite a bit.
- And so, uh, I'm, uh, I'm pleased to be here with you all to
- share the experience
- and the journey that we're going through at AEP Texas.
- Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it, Alex.
- You both bring a very unique set of experiences.
- Mike, as the program manager, I know that you've been in the field for a very
- many,
- many years, and I think your, um, expertise with how you're mitigating,
- you know, the, the wildfire challenges and you're, uh, are, are gonna bring a
- unique set of experiences. Same with Alex.
- Spent a lot of time, uh, in operations, and super excited.
- It's obviously a hot topic, no pu- no pun intended.
- Um, so I'm gonna set the stage a bit here.
- We, um... Th- really, there's been a number of research done,
- and over the years, um, you know, a lot has gone
- into understanding the impact of wildfires.
- Um, when you look at it, um, you know, since, uh,
- excuse me, United Nations, uh, produced a report back in
- 2020, 2022 that really outlined the concerns and
- challenges that we face globally, uh, around wildfire
- mitigation. And when we think about this, we're seeing,
- um, FEMA, since 1980, um, statistically, we're seeing
- 125% year-over-year growth in wildfire
- activities, so staggering growth.
- Uh, and just this year, uh, more than seven million
- acres in the US has been impacted by wildfires.
- So this is a unique, uh, and long-standing, um,
- challenge within the business. And I think for today's purposes,
- we're gonna
- do a f- a, a review on what we call the five Rs, um,
- and
- really bring it to life with both of your, uh, expertise in your
- organizations. Um, and we're gonna start by, um,
- introducing the five Rs with the review stage.
- Um, and Mike, um, you know, I think you've got a really unique,
- uh, set of experiences with Idaho Power, um, around
- kind of enhancement of situational awareness.
- So I'm gonna lead off with you and, um, and let you kinda share your, your
- background and how you're looking to, uh, impact this.
- Yeah. So [clears throat] it's kinda been a
- really interesting year for us in Idaho.
- We have just been on fire. It's, it's, uh, been terrible.
- Uh, a lotta, lotta acres burned. Uh, we've lost a lot of our
- infrastructure to fire,
- and, um, it's just been a really smoky, smoky hot
- summer. Um, but we're gonna talk about a lot of
- different technology, uh,
- today. And, um, but I wanted to start out with what really
- drives this,
- is our, our wildfire mani- uh, mitigation plan.
- Yeah.
- And the thing about it is we've got all this tech,
- we've got this plan, but it's
- the people that we have, uh, the, the team of people that put this plan
- together, the team of people that execute this plan, uh,
- is what really makes it work. Um, but some of the things we do,
- we use wildfire,
- uh, modeling software to, uh, understand what our level of risk
- is in those areas. And then from that, we've currently, uh,
- have 149, uh, wildfire zones.
- Mm.
- And then from those, uh, wildfire zones, um, we
- create daily, uh-
- FPI or Fire Potential Index, uh, weather forecast
- on six-hour blocks, 24 hours a day.
- These, these weather forecasts for every 149
- zones are coming out,
- so our field personnel know how to, how to respond and, and what they can
- and can't do out in the field. But [clears throat] a lot of this stems
- from our
- use of technology such as drones, weather stations,
- uh, a- a- assessing the, uh, field c- field conditions.
- And we use, uh, about 100 and...
- 230, uh, Idaho Power-owned weather stations, uh,
- by the end of the year, uh,
- to give us some of that. And then we also use wildfire detection
- cameras, uh, to
- get some of this, uh, kind of real-time situational awareness.
- That's very unique. You know, you've got a broad, vast
- area that you're trying to cover.
- Yeah.
- Uh, and it's very rugged, and I'm sure you're obviously trying to
- enhance that with
- new technologies. So-
- Yeah
- ... it's a really great point.
- Well, that, that's one thing I wanna, uh, probably should, uh, touch on real
- quickly is our service territory has everything from high elevation
- mountains-
- Mm
- ... to large desert, uh, uh, arid deserts-
- Yeah
- ... uh, to irrigated cropland, and we basically stretch from eastern
- Oregon,
- uh, all the way to the east, uh, of Idaho and up into the central part of
- the state. So-
- Yeah
- ... really diverse, uh, terrain.
- Yeah. No, that's, that's a good point. Alex, how about you guys?
- How do you enhance your in- your, uh, situational awareness?
- Similarly, the AEP Texas footprint is pretty vast.
- Uh, we cover a good part of, uh, west Texas and west
- Texas. Our footprint extends over 97,000 square
- miles. Uh, we serve, uh, just north of 350
- cities, um, in the state of Texas, a lot of rural communities.
- Uh, and so
- companies pursuing a similar modeling, uh, tool like the one Mike
- just described, what, what I'll share or add is the fact that there's
- good public data sets out there that give us intel to
- understand just the threat level across the state.
- Mm.
- For those of you that are just starting the journey,
- there's good information out
- there provided, uh, by, uh, USDA and also other forest service
- agencies. Uh, and so anyway, if you, if you haven't,
- if you don't have something
- like that, uh, in, in your company, I encourage you to go out there and just
- explore the public information that's out there.
- And it's typically an output of fire simulator, uh, models, 20 years' worth of
- historical data. What we're also doing is incorporating current
- climatology conditions to better understand trends or maybe shifts, right,
- from what we experienced in years past.
- And so just wanted to, uh, uh, share that with the group.
- Uh, in terms of situational awareness,
- uh, we're enhancing that continuously.
- We have, uh, sensors, uh, currently out there on our distribution
- system. Um, and what we're doing is expanding the deployment of
- these sensors to better understand the condition of the assets.
- And so that gives us intel on how well, uh, our infrastructure is
- performing. And comparing that against the threat levels that are
- identified across the state, uh, then it helps us prioritize, right?
- Mm.
- And it builds the sense of urgency to make sure that we go out there and inspect,
- uh, proactively. The goal is to identify the issues before
- failure occurs.
- Mm. Mm-hmm.
- So what we're doing is we're pursuing a deployment of three
- specific
- technologies. Um, one of them is, uh, studying the
- vegetation and, uh, using satellite imagery to better
- understand how
- that, uh, currently sits across our footprint.
- And a few things that we're trying to find there
- is not just the risk trees or
- vegetation that's close to the lines, but also fields that could
- serve as, uh, fuel, uh, for, uh, wildfires.
- Mm.
- And so the whole idea behind it is that we use that intelligence to couple
- with our
- current inspection practices and make sure that we pay s-
- you know, unique and special attention to the areas
- that are the most exposed.
- Um, let's see. Other technology that we're working on
- is, is additional line sensors that study the, uh, radio
- frequency change.
- Mm.
- And so the whole concept behind this is before a permanent fault occurs,
- we wanna be able to get to it, right?
- And so gathering that intelligence and then prioritizing, uh, will
- be a, uh, critical, uh, activity for us.
- And obviously, what makes all this work is drone technology.
- Yeah.
- Uh, we don't have folks to be out there all
- the time,
- and so what we, what we're working on is developing a scheme
- where we're able to use drone technology to get out there with a higher frequency.
- Uh, and not just on scheduled missions, but also on demand.
- I'll pause there. That's-
- Yeah. That's-
- ... what we have in motion, and we're gonna be actively pursuing all
- these three
- programs, uh, in, uh, 2025. That's, that's our plan.
- That's fantastic. You have your hands full.
- Yes, sir. We do. [laughs]
- [laughs] You have your hands full.
- Um, so the next one is risk reduction.
- Um, and this is, um, interesting because you all are
- doing risk assessments. You kinda shared some of the tools
- and technologies
- that you're using. Um, I'd love to hear more about how you're
- starting to
- implement kind of the assessment, uh, when you, when you lead into or
- pre- pre or during wildfire season.
- Yeah.
- Mike, you want-
- So, so, so I mentioned, uh, earlier our Fire Potential Index, FPI.
- Um, [clears throat] we have a team of
- atmospheric scientists, uh, like most of the
- utilities, uh, that deal with this, that, uh, that set these FPI forecasts
- out for us, right? So, um, that right there is a
- big help in, in reducing the risk. Uh, um, but also our
- weather stations, as I mentioned, satellite imagery-
- Mm
- ... um, assessing f- uh, field conditions real time.
- Uh, and then, and, you know, that's something we can use drones for,
- uh, get
- directly back to our atmospheric science teams, uh, in areas of concern
- for us. Um, but it's also really, uh, enhanced
- patrols. Uh, so you know, our traditional way, uh, has
- been, you know, foot patrols. They take a while.
- Um, they're inherently, uh, putting people in dangerous situations.
- So using, uh, drones to do enhanced inspections where we
- get
- maybe a little bit better look, bird's eye, of, of our assets and,
- and, uh, is another, uh, big key f- for us.
- And the other thing is, um, you know, really when we look at it, um,
- it's vegetation management enhancement-
- It's line hardening and, um, and the increased enhanced
- inspections.
- Yeah. No, that's, that's fantastic. How about you, Alex? What...
- When you think about the way you assess your, your risk, uh, you know,
- either before a season or during season, how, how are you,
- uh, conducting those risk assessments?
- Seth, uh, similar to what Mike described, one of the items that I wanna highlight
- though here in the risk assessment is-
- Hmm
- ... is a capability that we're very interested in developing,
- and that's
- using drone technology to be able to assess the environment conditions.
- Hmm.
- Uh, so it's not just our infrastructure
- failing or finding the
- defects that guide the missions, but it's also every
- time that we get the drone up in the air, scanning the environment to identify
- potential issues that could pose a threat to our
- infrastructure, right?
- And ultimately, what we're trying to do is get to the issue first, uh, for the
- benefit of our communities.
- Um,
- and so
- using, uh, uh, the idea is that we get the drone up in the air,
- scan for any signs
- of fire-
- Mm-hmm
- ... uh, or smoke. Uh, we're also interested in understanding the
- ground, the
- soil conditions,
- uh, and use that intelligence right from an
- environmental perspective to bring it
- back in, compare it against asset health, right, and then,
- uh, high risk zones just based on climatology
- trends.
- Um, so that's the one area that I've challenged the team to figure
- out.
- Yeah.
- And so we're in the, we're in the process of working through
- that.
- We've partnered with, uh, uh, one of our university's, uh,
- uh, research center, and so they, they're working very close with the
- state. And so we feel, uh, that, uh, collaborating with
- them and developing a, uh, a tool that helps us
- quickly identify this through artificial intelligence is a way to also, uh,
- support our community efforts. Ultimately, nobody wants a wildfire.
- Yeah.
- And so we wanna build a network where we're collaborating with our communities
- as
- well to make sure that we're, uh, leveraging each other resources.
- That's fantastic.
- Yeah.
- I feel like, you know, the, the ability to, uh, leverage the
- onboard technology and do it efficiently to kind of scan the
- environment is somewhat unique. I mean, we hear that where you're inspecting
- assets, but using a drone to just be leveraging
- where,
- where, you know, what's, what's taking place on the ground is,
- seems to be unique,
- so that's, that's awesome.
- Yeah. That, that's particularly helpful
- when you have an active fire-
- Hmm
- ... and it's burning towards your line, and you can get up and get that
- perspective from up in the air instead of trying to traverse all that terrain to
- see where it's actually at. But I wanted to mention really, uh, a,
- a low-tech,
- uh, uh, risk, uh, uh, reduction thing, and that is, uh,
- actually putting the tools into our field personnel that they're gonna need to
- help suppress, uh, if they get into a situation
- or protect an asset, and that's
- just the training.
- Yeah.
- Uh, and also, uh, you know, water pumper trucks and, and
- Pulaskis and shovels-
- Yeah
- ... and those type of things. So I mean, it gets, it can be really low tech to, to
- super high tech.
- Yeah. We're gonna... I wanna introduce, uh, PSPS and EPSS, if you
- don't mind, Mike. Um, just share the, the concept and what that means for folks
- that maybe don't know what those, what those terms mean.
- Yeah. So, um,
- in California they call it EPSS. Uh, we call it, uh, EPS,
- enhanced protection settings. Uh, but that is basically, uh,
- settings that we put our protective devices into so that
- if we have a trip, uh, on the system, uh, that it
- does not reclose back in and s- start a, a fire, right?
- And so when that happens, we're patrolling downstream of
- that protective
- device-
- Hmm
- ... and getting an all clear before we can
- reenergize.
- Uh, PSPS is a public safety power shutoff, and that
- is where you proactively, because of weather conditions-
- Hmm
- ... shut power off to a certain zone, and you're impacting those
- customers until you have patrolled the whole line segment,
- uh, all the way to the end and determined that it's safe and clear.
- Uh, so that can have, uh, kind of lasting impacts.
- Uh, uh, they're without power for a long time.
- Yeah.
- There's people with medical devices and certain kind of conditions, um, that
- it's, it's really a hardship.
- Yeah.
- And, and it's a last resort.
- I-
- You know?
- ... took the words out of my mouth.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- It's a last resort.
- That's it.
- It's, it's not something that we like to do.
- We've only done one of them, but-
- Hmm
- ... um, but we've come close many times, and so-
- Yeah
- ... uh.
- No, that's great. I just wanna introduce
- that 'cause I know that's gonna be a topic
- we'll discuss.
- Yeah.
- Um, this is a video. I wanna, I wanna kick this off.
- This actually is kind of talking about, um, Mike, if I'm not mistaken, this
- is one of your inspectors doing a inspection on a pole.
- Yeah. This is a, um,
- a transmission patrol guy, uh, using a X2 drone-
- Hmm
- ... a Scotty X2 drone, uh, to just kind of systematically go down
- this
- quadrant of the pole, and he's kind of zooming in,
- looking at real time,
- uh, you know, do I have all my parts and pieces there?
- Does everything look tight?
- Is there any damage? And, um, you know, he really can get in there,
- um, and get right around the asset and see things from all angles, and I
- think that that's just what that illustrates.
- Yeah.
- It's a pretty tactical piece of equipment for us.
- Yeah. And these are, these are obviously the inspections necessary to
- keep your
- infrastructure running safely and-
- Yep
- ... and, uh, you know, while you're in wildfire season,
- it's really important that
- you, that you're doing these.
- Right. So there's several types of inspections.
- We have our normal inspections, and then we have a pre-fire season in s-
- uh-
- Hmm
- ... in a patrol as well. So, uh, these lines are getting looked at multiple
- times.
- Yeah. That's fantastic.
- Um, let's go to the third R, so readiness.
- Um, and obviously the, the tie in here is, um, you know,
- vegetation management I know is a big topic these days.
- And, um, Alex, I think you mentioned this already,
- but love to maybe expand on this
- a little bit more, how you're thinking about, you know,
- use of vegetation
- management and how you do that today, and kind of looking ahead as well.
- Yeah. Thanks, Seth. Uh, so we, we have very active, uh, vegetation
- management programs already. Uh, but from a wild-
- fire perspective, it, it's more than just trimming, uh, for
- aerial clearance.
- Hmm.
- Right? Um,
- it's about making sure that there's not fuel, right, uh, close.
- It only takes one fire to be devastating for a community.
- So we wanna make sure that we identify those-
- Uh, proactively, and then we use that intelligence to trigger,
- um, subsequent activities, right?
- Whether it's going out there and removing a tree,
- or maybe working with a
- landowner-
- Mm-hmm
- ... uh, to address potentially vegetation that's,
- uh, that
- seems to be a threat.
- Um, and so that, that's the, that's the angle or the scope that, that
- we wanna take here. I mentioned, uh, two solutions that we are
- proposing, uh, for in 2025. One using satel-
- satellite imagery for vegetation intelligence.
- Uh, and the other is the sensors that help us understand whether
- or not there's
- something, uh, fixing to break.
- In Texas, um, there's a lot of land that doesn't
- necessarily have very dense vegetation, but there's a lot of brush
- fields, right? Acres and acres of open land with brush, uh,
- that could
- serve as a fuel. Uh, and so we wanna be able to
- identify the cases where we have our line either sitting in those fields or
- adjacent to them.
- And so it's more than just trimming a tree-
- Mm-hmm
- ... where you just back off to get the
- clearing, uh, uh, on the,
- uh, aerial, uh, from the conductor.
- The other thing, uh, the other thing that we intend to do, w- we
- don't wanna get the information that it's very functional
- and just for one specific
- purpose. And so as we use the intelligence to
- deploy the drone,
- we're really deploying it to collect information that'll help us in multiple
- fronts, right?
- And so even though intelligence is specific to vegetation,
- it triggers an action for the drone to go out there.
- And we're not just looking for the vegetation that could pose a threat
- or address
- a risk tree. We're also out there looking, for example, birds that may be
- nesting-
- Hmm
- ... up in the arm-
- Mm-hmm
- ... right? Which also could, could be an issue.
- And so just wanted to make that clarification, is that the idea
- is that we couple
- these solutions, and as we execute the mission-
- Mm-hmm
- ... we're gathering intelligence that we can then bring back, dissect,
- and probably
- funnel through different, uh, you know, uh, specialty functions, right, for
- analysis.
- Yeah. No, th- that's fantastic.
- M- Mike, tell us a little bit about, I know you're thinking of kind of the
- aerial overview as I describe it, maybe pre- and post-season.
- Te- tell us more about what that-
- Yeah. So, you know, I just wanna highlight one of the,
- the programs we've been
- pretty successful with, is we do these, uh, fuel clearing and thinning, uh,
- programs with other g- with governmental agencies.
- And, um, you know, one of the things that we're discussing is, you know,
- to kinda
- assess how successful that is, um, is just to go in and do a
- 2D scan, 2D capture-
- Mm-hmm
- ... of the area. And then, and then after we do the,
- the project, come back in again and see how effective
- that was.
- Yeah.
- Um, and so, you know, but there, there's just a lot of, uh,
- value in, in the vegetation management piece
- because, um,
- it's proven, right? You get a lot of-
- Yeah
- ... value out of that. So.
- Yeah. You mentioned, uh, when we were talking leading into this,
- that you have some
- unique examples where, you know, season to season-
- Mm-hmm
- ... you have regrowth.
- Right.
- And, and it causes examples where you, you know, normally you wouldn't have that,
- but your environment produces new grass.
- Right.
- And tell more about that.
- Yeah, so I mean, it's a, you know, it's a different kind of vegetation maybe
- than
- was there b- uh, pre-fire. Uh, post-fire we've seen,
- uh, fuels grow very rapidly, like cheat, cheatgrass.
- Hmm.
- And it grows very, very fast, tall, and, um, so then,
- like, two years after a fire there's actually
- another fire in the same area,
- and it just went, went nuts because there was so much rapid
- fuel.
- Yeah.
- Um, so, uh, sagebrush takes longer to grow.
- Cheatgrass is very aggressive, and, and it's a fuel that dries
- out very quickly, and it can just really take off.
- So, so it's not always what you think it
- is gonna be.
- Yeah.
- You really need to do these kind of assessments, and,
- and using the drones to do
- that is a effective means.
- Yeah. Well, you both have very, uh, somewhat different environments, I
- think. And I think you're trying to find ways to,
- um, it's not always the
- overhanging trees or, you know, it could be,
- it could be other brush areas like you
- mentioned, Alex, but it's, um, it's interesting to hear the perspective
- on both.
- Well, and in our case too, Seth, uh, [laughs] it's a
- trap that you can fall into, thinking that, well,
- I don't have big canopies,
- right? Or trees getting into the line.
- Yeah.
- But from a wildfire perspective, it's just as dangerous, uh, for any
- electrical equipment to come in contact with that-
- Yeah
- ... brush. And so,
- uh, it's tough, right? 'Cause, uh, it's not the vegetation that
- California has.
- Yeah.
- Um,
- but it still poses a threat, right?
- And we have experienced a number of significant wildfires in the state of
- Texas, and so we wanna make sure we contribute
- to, uh, mitigate that risk.
- Yeah. No, that's fantastic. Um,
- let's move to the,
- the next R, response. And, um, love to,
- to, uh, Mike, kick us off a little bit about this.
- How, you know, how do you guys respond to, uh, you
- know, wildfires or incidents? And, and walk through that process.
- Yeah, so, a- and our PSPS is a little different than it is in
- California from the aspect of the weather.
- Uh, you guys have the Santa Ana winds down
- here, and you kinda know they're
- coming, and it's a little easier to forecast.
- Um, you know, I know some of that stuff's done, you know, a week out.
- Yeah.
- Uh, typically with our storms, they're these dry, intense
- heat lightning, um, storms, or little microbursts.
- Hmm.
- And they're very, uh, aggressive, and they're, they're
- gone in 30 to 40 minutes. And, um, so, so they're, you know,
- although we can most of the time predict when they're gonna be there, um, they will
- not go in the path, build where th- we think they're gonna build.
- They end up in some other loca- location.
- Hmm.
- Um, so that makes it a little bit tough.
- But, um, you know, when we're doing this, uh, PSPS patrol, uh, as
- you can imagine, so, um, you know, you're trying to get the power back on to
- those
- communities, uh, and you're trying to do it safely.
- Yeah.
- Uh, but it is a process that is, uh,
- very manual, right?
- Yeah.
- You're, you're trying to get people out to
- inspect.
- Um, they're looking for really big items. It's not a detailed patrol.
- You're looking for lines down or, or broken components.
- Um, and you know, e- even for us it's, it's, uh, been an issue
- of finding, uh, resources at times.
- Because-
- You mentioned that
- ... you know, i- yeah. In, in Idaho, um, uh, you know, I remember, you know, just
- a year ago or so we had a PSPS we were sure we were gonna have to, um,
- initiate in, in a part of our state.
- A lot of the, the line people were, uh, uh, gone elk hunting.
- [laughs]
- So, so it's just, um, you know, really the drones can help us.
- I don't wanna say really a force multiplier, but maybe it is.
- I mean, you can cover a lot of ground-
- Yeah
- ... in certain areas. Um, some areas it's still faster to use a,
- a pickup truck.
- Yep.
- Uh, but there is a lot of hazardous situations
- where the drone, uh, can really
- help us out. Um, so, um, and then, you know, the other
- thing is, you know, when we do all this work, um-
- It's a lot of people behind the scenes, not only the patrol
- people.
- Yeah.
- You've got people helping to supply these people and all the logistics.
- Yeah, very labor-intensive.
- Yeah.
- It's, um, and, and you know, I think you, you nailed the point.
- When you, when you go into these events, um, there's a lot of resources.
- Mm-hmm.
- And there's a lot of coordination that has to go into it, right?
- Um, and obviously it's very impactful for your
- customers.
- This is the last kind of step effort to, to keep the grid safe and the
- customers safe. But, um, knowing that that, that is, you know, what, what
- has to be done, um, it just creates a lot of, uh,
- coordination and, and resource allocation, for sure.
- Yeah.
- How about you guys? Alex?
- Not specific to PSPS, uh, but any
- time that our, that our system is de-energized, then it
- has to be energized. Whether it's a fault that happened or
- a storm that came in and caused some of the, uh, uh,
- over-current protection to trip,
- it's important for our field, and they take it very seriously,
- that before they
- energize any section of line, they gotta confirm, right,
- that the infrastructure is
- where it needs to be-
- Mm-hmm
- ... that everything looks in good operating
- condition before we energize.
- And this is primarily done for safety purposes, right?
- Both public and, and employee, uh, safety.
- And there's a very close coordination out in the field, right, where you have, uh,
- a member that is the one responsible to make sure, right, that, uh,
- those working, uh, under him are, uh, going out and, and walking,
- patrolling the line.
- Drone technology helps you, uh, be more efficient in the process, right?
- Yeah.
- And so I, I see the potential in having a concept
- like, uh,
- the one I heard earlier today, uh, which was not necessarily a one-to-one
- ratio
- or one drone for every 30 folks, but rather the other way around, right?
- Hopefully, in a future state, where you have more drone activity that's
- able to go
- out and scan the environment for you-
- Yeah
- ... to confirm that while the system was de-energized, uh, everything,
- you know, i- is normal, right?
- Yeah.
- And, and is safe to, uh, uh, re-energize.
- Yeah.
- And so, and that applies really to e- every event, right?
- Uh, we, we have the biggest coastal exposure in
- the state of
- Texas, and so we deal a lot with, uh, hurricanes, uh,
- and, uh, storms. And so,
- and typically they come in and, and, and damage, uh, or trip some of our
- equipment, and so that's the process that we use, uh,
- to make sure everybody stays
- safe.
- Yeah. That's, that's, uh, v- you know, I think at the end of the day,
- Mike, one of the things that I'm thinking is, you know, you're...
- If you have to scan every, uh, square mile of your
- environment when you go into these events, um, there's places where
- this is private land.
- Mm-hmm.
- And you... They're hard to reach areas.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I can only imagine the impact that it takes to get
- that back online safely.
- Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Um, and so, you know, it's a big
- coordinated effort. And one, one thing I wanted to touch on here
- is that, you know,
- when you, when you do one of these, you try to think of every scenario, right,
- that
- you're gonna encounter. And you practice all this stuff,
- but you learn lessons
- from doing it, and then you, you just gotta go back and, and, and
- fine-tune your process because there's always something
- that didn't go quite right
- or that you didn't think of. Uh, and so-
- Yeah
- ... uh, yeah, it's, it's... That's where also the use of drones.
- Hey, where can we tactically stage drone teams
- to help us?
- And that's all things that we're exploring right now.
- Yeah. No, that's fantastic. Um, you know, one of the things that
- we highlight is the tools necessary to, to operating these environments is there's
- a lot of coordination, as mentioned.
- But, um, having, uh, the ability for field teams to be able to
- see
- their, your grid and your environments, you know, as they're doing those, um,
- is really important. And I know that, you know, these events, um, you have to
- patrol at night at times. Um, you know, they're, they're very challenging
- conditions. Um, and obviously we...
- we're, we're working as a, as a, uh, as a solution to,
- to kind of give you all the tools necessary, like night- night patrol
- operations-
- Mm-hmm
- ... and integration of base layers, to have visual data, uh, for your
- drone operators. Um, and it, and hopefully that'll...
- Over time it's only gonna become more valuable.
- Yeah.
- So.
- Yeah, and I think the integration with some of
- those layers, like you're talking
- about, on screen, uh, would be a huge, huge improvement to what-
- Yeah
- ... we have now, and really add to the situational
- awareness of the pilots.
- So, um, they're all positive things, uh, for us.
- Yeah. No, that's great. All right. Last R, recovery.
- Um, these are, uh, obviously post-incident recovery
- efforts. Um, Alex, I don't know if you wanna...
- or, or, uh, Mike-
- I'll take that one
- ... do you wanna kick it off? Yeah.
- Yeah. You know, and it, and it's just kind of a repeat, uh,
- really of, of kinda
- what I said on some of the vegetation stuff.
- Uh, but the fields can be dynamic after a
- fire, right?
- Yeah.
- And so assessing, um, what those conditions may be after the
- fire or the next spring, um, and again, that, and a drone can be
- really useful for that. Um, and then, you know, uh, really,
- um,
- the, the amount of terrain that we have to cover, the,
- those footprint that we have
- to cover with the employees-
- Mm-hmm
- ... we have to cover. So, so resources, uh, labor is, is hard
- to come by, right?
- Yeah.
- You just can't keep adding people, and so you try to do more, uh,
- with actually less sometimes.
- Yeah.
- And so, um, using some of these tools, uh, such as drone,
- to con- conduct a lot of this post-incident
- assessment-
- Yeah
- ... uh, is, is really, uh, a big savings to us because,
- uh, one guy can cover a lot of ground, uh, with, with a drone.
- Yeah. And this is a multi-year process, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- In many cases.
- Yeah.
- This takes... The recovery efforts are, are ongoing and
- take a lot of time.
- Yep.
- Yeah. Alex, how about you guys?
- So in a post-incident, we have seen a lot of value in using, uh,
- drone imagery to help characterize impact, right?
- Following a major event.
- Um, and so i- one, it helps us better understand
- whether or not there was any opportunities, uh, that we can,
- or gaps that we can
- address.
- Mm-hmm.
- And, and we tend to have, uh, post-critique reviews every time,
- uh, after a major event is done. And so having this
- intelligence help us assess whether or not the measures
- that we put in place from a
- resiliency standpoint are effective, and we have seen a lot of value in using
- that
- intelligence. It tells us, hey, the hardening activity that we have in
- motion worked, right? The reliability projects
- that we kicked off were
- effective-
- Yeah
- ... compared to what we had experienced in the
- past.
- And so this is really good intelligence to help us gauge, uh, the
- efficacy of the, uh, of the plans that we're, that we're putting forward.
- The other thing is, uh, it helps the public also, uh,
- understand the severity and the, uh, and the, uh, scale of the issue.
- And so we use that as well for communication purposes.
- Um,
- this ties a little bit to the situational awareness item that we
- had, uh, that we started off with.
- Mm-hmm. Yeah.
- Uh, really the expectation ties very
- neatly with a post-incident objective, right?
- And that's, and that's helping characterize the scale
- or the impact of
- the issue, uh, communicating with the public.
- And let's face it, I mean, the reality is that, uh, situational awareness,
- uh, is not a choice. I mean, it's an expectation, and our public
- and communities
- are expecting the information quick.
- Yeah.
- And we have the tools to be out there gathering this information,
- characterizing it
- appropriately, and making sure that we share it with them.
- There's other agencies too that also are involved in every major event that we
- experience. And so it, it's a tool, uh, that helps
- us connect, build this network-
- Yeah
- ...
- uh, with other agencies that have the similar objective of keeping
- our community
- members safe. And so that's the, uh, that's our intent.
- That's the approach, and-
- Yeah
- ... that's what we're gonna do.
- It's fantastic. I think, um, you know, obviously the response
- efforts, there's a lot of, uh, insights and knowledge that comes out
- of these incidents. Um, and, and broadly sharing those to not
- only enhance how you guys operate, but also the public and how you
- coordinate with the public, how your, you know, visibility for them to
- understand the impact and what you're doing to, uh,
- mitigate that impact,
- right? So, um, there's a lot to learn here,
- and there's a lot of things that I
- think generally you, uh, you guys can y- the value you can create out
- of this. Um, so when we look ahead, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you, where,
- uh, you know, if you look five years ahead,
- what do you need from
- technology, uh, partners like us or others in the marketplace
- to, uh, only, um, you know, increase your awareness and,
- um, and how you react to these incidents?
- 'Cause I don't think anything's changing, unfortunately.
- [laughs]
- We're, we're all gonna be impacted many years
- ahead, but what, what can we do to
- help?
- So I'll share with you my perspective, and, and Mike, feel free
- to chime in here. Um,
- I think, uh, integrating the different solutions
- that are, that
- are coming to us, uh, is very valuable.
- I talked about, uh, sensors.
- Mm-hmm.
- I talked about other feeds or inputs that come in
- to guide the missions that we need done, um,
- autonomously.
- Mm-hmm.
- Uh, quick, be able to gather the intelligence,
- ingest the
- information, and then make sense out of it, right?
- So that we don't have the same number of folks behind computers in a room-
- Yeah
- ... looking at picture after picture.
- So that needs to, that needs to be solved.
- I learned,
- uh, a lot in this, uh, in this, uh, particular
- program. Um, there's a lot of good developments from an
- artificial intelligence and machine learning perspective.
- Uh, we met a lot of good folks, uh, that we intend to follow
- up with. There's a lot of, uh, traction-
- Yeah
- ... I think, in that space, and, and it's ours to, uh, give up.
- I think we need to use it. Uh-
- Yeah
- ... and we have already the desire, the, [laughs] uh, the
- interest-
- Yeah
- ... in making sure that we improve the way we operate the
- system,
- both for safety purposes and operational excellence, uh,
- and ultimately to
- deliver a bigger value to our communities and customers, right?
- Uh, we're more than just poles and wires.
- Yeah.
- Uh, we're members of our community.
- Uh, we want the communities to thrive, and part of that is keeping them safe and
- making sure that we keep our system reliable and, and running.
- So, uh, I think, uh, helping us with the integration
- is a big deal.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Um,
- Mike?
- Yeah. Well, you know, for me, you know, we, we are expected, uh, by our
- customers, they have an expectation that we're gonna perform and do our job.
- And really for, for us, it's, it's...
- The thing I see is I need the equipment to do the same thing.
- There's times where we have comm issues, right?
- Sure.
- We have a very, um, uh, tough environment
- sometimes to establish comms and to get the distances we
- need. And so, so when a product doesn't work, um, you know,
- it, it's defeating our purpose and then it becomes a problem for us.
- So, so having the product work, um, and, um,
- also, you know, it's just a lot of the stuff like we're
- learning this, this week or
- the last couple days, uh, with the AI and the other integrations, I think
- that's, uh, a critical piece too, where we can have line sensors
- trigger the drone to take the flight out of the dock
- and then go identify-
- Yeah
- ... uh, before anybody rolls what the issue is.
- Um, so I think, uh, there's, it's a really exciting time.
- Um, I think there's a lot of really good stuff
- that's happening,
- and, um, I'm just excited to see where it all ends
- up-
- Yeah
- ... because there's just a lot of
- possibilities.
- There's a lot of things out there we can do.
- Yeah. That's a really good point. Uh, you know, the connected base layer and the
- power.
- Yep.
- And then obviously ultimately trying to bring the solutions together,
- you know, get the insights faster and more connected into your world so you
- can, you can take action, right?
- Exactly.
- So, um, great. Let's move to Q&A. Um,
- what questions from the audience?
- Awesome. Nothing?
- No.
- Yeah?
- [laughs]
- [laughs]
- Alex, you mentioned that s- uh,
- checking soil conditions was important to your inspection process,
- and I'm
- wondering how that impacts,
- um, your wild- wildfire. I didn't, I didn't connect the dots there.
- Yeah. Good question. So one of the things, uh, it, it, it would serve
- as a prioritization, um,
- variable.
- If I know that I have infrastructure next to a field with
- thousands of acres, that could be fuel, right, if a fire
- happens.
- Then the fire typically will start as a surface fire in that
- particular case, given our vegetation,
- um-
- Uh, state, right? Um,
- and so if I'm able to find,
- uh, or identify
- ground conditions that have organic material that
- could easily spark and get to those thousands of acres of
- fuel,
- that's a problem. That's an issue.
- That differs from maybe another part of the system that does
- not have organic material that can kick off, uh, a
- wildfire.
- And so it doesn't necessarily mean that the other is less important.
- It just means that it can serve as a prioritization means to
- direct field activities. Does that make sense?
- Thank you.
- You bet.
- That's good. Yeah.
- I think we got one, yeah, I think we got one right there.
- And this is mostly for Mike. Um,
- so with EPSS, are you still in pilot stage for
- dispatching drone UAV crews to,
- um, those locations where it needs to be
- assessed before you re-energize
- the line, or is there a percentage, a percentage that's, uh,
- UAV-
- No
- ... versus foot patrol?
- Yeah, we're, we're still working through all that.
- But, you know, what we've identified is there are areas that, you know, the
- helicopter can go, uh, a patrol fast, uh, but it can't see
- everything on the ground because of tree canopies and whatnot.
- So then your regular patrolman in a pickup truck
- or four-wheeler is, is the next quickest tool.
- But there's some areas that are just really tough to inspect,
- right? And a drone can do a very good job.
- So we're in, d- definitely in a pilot phase of trying to
- figure out, hey,
- where can we... We've got to get all this mapped out,
- get our people trained so
- that we- we're all working together doing the
- correct thing.
- Um, so we're definitely in a pilot phase, uh, right now.
- Um, and, you know, it's just one of those things that as, as,
- uh, the next
- year we're gonna get better at it, and then we're gonna get better at it.
- But, um, right now it's a starting, starting point for us.
- Excellent. Thank you so much.
- Anybody else?
- All right. Do we have
- virtual questions?
- Yeah.
- We have some virtual questions.
- Okay.
- So this is being live streamed, so from our virtual audience,
- we have a few
- questions. So, uh, one person would like to know,
- are you sharing the risk
- assessment details with local first responders as a way to give them
- situational awareness as well?
- Hmm.
- Who wants to take that? [laughs]
- To my knowledge, uh, no. I, I do not know the answer to that, but I do
- not think we are doing that at this point.
- Yeah. How about you, Alex?
- In the, in our vision of using drones to detect
- signs
- of fire, um, whether regardless of the
- source of the fire,
- uh, we have in our plans to, uh,
- build a campaign and a network, right, to
- collaborate with first responders, not just to share-
- Yeah
- ... our assessment of threat levels across the
- state,
- but also have a mechanism where we can work hand-in-hand,
- um, to address, uh, wildfire risk and threats.
- Yeah. There's a lot of coordination there.
- Yeah, yeah.
- It feels like-
- Yeah
- ... there could be, uh, you know, some value, uh, to share those across.
- And obviously you gotta, gotta work through those, those, uh,
- processes, but-
- Right
- ... yeah.
- I'll, and I'll follow up with that just a little bit, too.
- We do a lot of meetings with these other forest service agencies-
- Mm
- ... Bureau of Land Management, um, and, and local fire departments and fire
- districts all throughout these rural communities.
- And so, um, I don't know, we, we do share wildfire cameras with them so
- they can control them. Uh, they get notified
- when our cameras pick up on,
- on a, on a, a ignition. But we, uh, I don't know as far as, like,
- the level of some of our FPI type stuff. I don't think that's shared.
- But there is a lot of cooperation-
- Yeah
- ... uh, amongst all the c- uh, organizations in the communities.
- Great. Um, another question that came in, um, how
- long has it taken to get these processes and tools in place?
- Hmm.
- Hmm. Okay, so, uh, for
- [laughs]
- So for us, it's, it's, uh, been, uh, just like drone technology, period,
- I'll, I'll speak on that to, to begin with, it's,
- it's been a very slow,
- painful process at my company because [clears throat] it's been a thing that
- nobody really kinda owned, right?
- And, and you kinda have to carry this flag all
- the time and jump up
- and down.
- [laughs]
- Uh, and, and, you know, but it's, it's really...
- You know, where you start to gain traction is,
- and there's a lot of people in the
- room, and I, and I got, got in trouble for calling their name out
- last year.
- [laughs]
- [laughs]
- But, uh, but there are the people at some of these larger
- companies and, and, um,
- you know, they have helped us get going. They've helped us.
- Mm.
- They've shared their knowledge.
- Yeah.
- Uh, events like this where we all network
- again, uh, that gives me a lot
- a, a lot of good use cases, um, good data to go
- build, uh, my program.
- Yeah.
- And, um, and really, you know, I think really the,
- the thing that's driven this
- the most for us is, uh, the threat of wildfire.
- Yeah.
- Uh, and, and just the, uh, intelligence that we can get,
- um, that you really can't really get any other
- way, um,
- is, is so important in reducing our risk-
- Yeah
- ... um, that that's really just
- given us a lot of traction. And all these...
- You know, it's just a slow process building our
- SOPs-
- Yeah
- ... building our training program, and so forth.
- I think it's a- always evolving, right?
- Yeah.
- Yep.
- Uh, you feel like it's, it's a constant evolution,
- and as do technologies and
- stuff. But, uh, yeah, I don't know, Alex, do you have anything to add there?
- So, uh, one thing that I'd like to, uh, clarify in this
- particular question, you know, the, the, the processes that,
- that we've had are effective. I mean, that's the reason why we have 'em,
- right?
- Yeah.
- And we, and we repeat 'em. Um,
- asset renewal type of programs, right?
- Uh, vegetation management practices.
- So we have the key components in motion.
- What we're uncovering
- is
- w- we're looking to unlock the potential of
- these new tools, the
- artificial intelligence, bring 'em together to enhance what's
- already working.
- Mm.
- 'Cause we can see the value in getting there faster, right?
- And we can see the value in better utilizing the limited resources that we
- have. And so, but as far as
- implementation, I mean, that's the reason why I expose the
- challenge, right-
- Yeah
- ... uh, that I think all of us should embrace,
- is how do we, how do
- we bring these,
- uh, these, uh, solutions together, right, where you bring 'em into a
- platform that quickly allows you to trigger action?
- Yeah.
- And so I think we gotta work on that as a community.
- Uh, I don't know that there's one solution that's the
- silver bullet.
- Uh, I love drones, but I recognize that a drone alone, right, can only do
- so much.
- Absolutely.
- If I couple that with three or four other solutions that are providing
- intelligence, then that's more powerful.
- Yeah.
- The idea is, how do I get there? And so technology's just unfolding
- super fast, right? And what we have to get used to
- is moving just as
- quick.
- Yeah. That's good.
- All right. Well, guys, thank you so very much.
- Um, what great insights that you guys provide.
- And, and I hope the fire season, uh, ends very soon, [laughs] and I hope
- the impact isn't as, uh, it's not, uh, as bad coming up.
- Um, couple items to follow up. Uh, we've got a couple QR codes here as
- well around our condition-based maintenance approach, and then, uh,
- a great demo with Dominion Energy.
- So again, Alex, Mike, thank you very much for, for coming out
- today and sharing your insights. Appreciate it, sir.
- Welcome. Appreciate it. Thanks.
- Thank you. Thank you very much. [audience applauds]
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you. Thank you.
Watch Time
44 Mins 58 Secs