[Kevin Praet (Adm)]

Hello Asset Health Analytics Community Members,

I hope all is well! I just wanted to send a quick reminder for our meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, April 28 at 2:00 PM CT, on An Analytics Approach To Vegetation Management and hope you all can join us. I’ve provided our Microsoft Teams link below and on our calendar placeholder. If you have any questions or issues joining please let me know.

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Thanks and we look forward to connecting! 

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Kevin Praet
Membership Coordinator
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
Boulder CO
315-440-3033
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2021 17:25
From: Kevin Praet
Subject: Upcoming April 28 (2021) Community Conversation – An Analytics Approach To Vegetation Management

Hello Asset Health Analytics Community Members,

I hope all is well! We have a very exciting Community Conversation planned for this month and hope you all can join us. On Wednesday, April 28 at 2:00 PM CT we’ll be joined by several speakers discussing the topic An Analytics Approach to Vegetation Management. This meeting is a “do not miss” opportunity to learn and connect with speakers from different utility and solution provider companies on the topic of analytics in vegetation management. Special thanks to the following members/speakers for their involvement:

• Facilitator: Charlie Schaeffer, IT Director – Ameren
• Panelists:
  • David Martin, Sr. Manager, Vegetation Management – Evergy
  • Rebecca Afsar, Civil Engineer – WAPA
  • Ron Adams, General Manager of Vegetation Management – Duke Energy
  • Tom Martin, Vice President of Product, Data Science Division – E Source

To learn more about this session and our speakers see below!

Session Description:

Maintaining vegetation is one of the leading challenges for utility companies. Trees and branches can cause power lines to fall – leading to service interruptions and potential wildfires. Vegetation can be one of the leading drivers in power outages. Traditional approaches to vegetation management has involved time-consuming and costly on-site inspections, relying primarily on human observation. Now, to address this challenge more proactively, utility companies are moving towards an analytics approach to vegetation management. Join us for this panel discussion to learn from multiple utilities, including:

• How an analytics approach to vegetation management gets put into action
• What does the data science approach to vegetation management look like
• Business benefits that have been realized with an analytics approach to vegetation management
• We will learn how a utility will use existing asset management data for transmission lines and apply that data to solve vegetation management project priorities. This utility has information on consequence of failure of transmission lines, but they don’t currently apply it to their vegetation management methodology. they will share information on a proposal in the works to help fix that
• A solution provider will share how they have helped their utility partners deploy vegetable management data science projects to help them reduce their veg budget with no negative impact to safety or reliability.

Facilitator: Charlie Schaefer (IT Director at Ameren)

Charles Schaeffer directs a team of managers, engineers, and software developers within Ameren Digital’s application development function. Solutions including OMS, DMS, Asset Management, Field Work Management, and various analytic and analysis systems for the Distribution and Generation business units.

Panelist: David Martin (Sr. Manager of Vegetation Management at Evergy)

David Martin, Senior Manager – T&D Vegetation Management at Evergy Inc. David leads all aspects of Evergy’s Vegetation Management programs with 13 years of experience in the Utility Vegetation Management industry. Prior to joining Evergy (KCP&L) in 2013, David held various roles as a vegetation management consultant and transmission forester at Public Service Company of Oklahoma and Liberty Utilities Central (Empire District Electric). His primary point of focus at Evergy is leveraging technology, data, and novel ideas to drive operational efficiencies and cost savings within Vegetation Management Workflows without sacrificing reliability.  

Panelist: Rebecca Afsar (Civil Engineer at WAPA)

Rebecca Afsar is a civil engineer at the Western Area Power Administration who specialties in transmission line risk assessments and asset criticality analysis. Her work has focused on engineering analysis to evaluate transmission infrastructure performance and provide tools to prioritize capital investment and improve maintenance practices. Her consistent and clear communication of asset management products continues to be her primary objective to ensure decision-makers have the information and tools they need to measure and assess equipment performance, improve maintenance practices, and develop capital budgets.  

Panelist: Ron Adams (General Manager of Vegetation Management at Duke Energy)

Ron Adams currently manages Duke Energy’s Transmission Vegetation Management Strategy team. He has been in the utility industry for over 35 years and spent the past several years managing various functions of either or both T&D Vegetation Management programs. Ron holds an Electrical Engineering Degree from Clemson University and is a registered Professional Engineer as well as a Senior Member of IEEE. Also, Ron is a former Chair for the NERC Standard Drafting Team for FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management) and the Utility Arborist Association Summit Committee.  

Panelist: Tom Martin (Vice President of Product, Data Science Division at E Source

In his current role, Tom Martin works to bring AI and Data Science products, known as Solvers, into utilities by focusing on the actionable use cases and insights that enable changes to business practices and produce measurable value around data-driven insights for Grid Optimization and Vegetation Management. Prior to joining E Source (through its acquisition of TROVE Predictive Data Science), Tom led the Emerging Grid Technology team at Pacific Gas & Electric leading the implementation of new technology and analytics in support for PG&E’s Electric Operations as PG&E looked to reduce operational costs, improve safety, and increase reliability through a renewed focus on implementing a data-driven culture.

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I’ll be providing our Microsoft Teams link one day prior to the meeting. If you have any questions in the meantime please reach out and let us know.

Thanks!

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Kevin Praet
Membership Coordinator
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
Boulder CO
315-440-3033
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