Today’s electric utilities operate in a dynamic environment. Changing conditions in the economic, technical and regulatory arenas introduce challenges and concerns across the board. At the same time, electric utility providers seek to deliver the most reliable power possible to their customers and optimize the use of limited resources--all while providing suitable return to investors and key stakeholders. Effective management and sharing of information is a key driver for reliable, cost-efficient performance in complex organizations.

Aging Infrastructure and System Resiliency and Reliability

Managing a utility’s infrastructure presents a variety of challenges. Power infrastructure is closely tied to network reliability and a utility’s financial performance. However, much of the North American energy infrastructure was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s with a 50 year life expectancy. With aging infrastructure come increased maintenance costs and more frequent outages affecting system reliability and capacity issues. And with many electric utility networks spread over large areas, it’s also difficult to service and maintain network assets effectively and efficiently. If electric utilities are to operate effectively and reliably, they need accurate, up-to-date information on the location and condition of their critical network assets. That’s in addition to greater attention being paid to aging equipment, maintenance practices, vegetation management and outage management and response.