Use Case
Improving Effectiveness of Vegetation Management
Vegetation management is the single largest line item of utility operations and maintenance budgets, often exceeding $100 million annually for larger utilities. Vegetation management is not new to utilities, but there are new technologies that enable better prioritization of the work. Resources can be applied to the most critical areas by having additional visibility including fault counts and anomalies by feeder segment and on laterals.
The Sentient Energy Grid Analytics SystemTM
Sentient Energy’s MM3TM is an intelligent line sensor for overhead feeder lines and the ZM1TM sensor is designed for use on laterals and low load feeder segments. Both the MM3 and ZM1 sensors detect faults, capture waveforms at 130 samples per cycle, and record load data with accuracy within +/- 2%. In addition to sensing faults, the MM3 performs anomaly detection and reports on the feeder segments that require attention.

How It Works
With MM3 and ZM1 overhead line sensors deployed along feeders and laterals, utilities benefit from a more complete understanding of the areas on the circuit with high fault and anomaly activity that should be addressed by vegetation crews. Utilities can incorporate this three-step process:
- Install sensors – Deploy MM3 intelligent line sensors along feeders and install battery-powered ZM1 sensors on laterals and low load feeder segments.
- Collect system data – Sentient Energy’s Ample Analytics Platform collects high resolution system data from sensors and builds a database history of system information and patterns.
- Look for problem areas – With the distribution circuit segmented with line sensors, utilities now have the data to identify specific areas with high fault counts and anomalies to assign as high priority for vegetation crews to address.
Results
Vegetation management is a major effort and expense for utilities. Sentient Energy’s Grid Analytics System enables more granular visibility of system faults and anomalies allowing planning and reliability engineers to prioritize vegetation management work more effectively.