Overview & Events

Research Value

• More effective use of existing infrastructure and data
• Early identification of type issues, reducing unplanned outages.
• Improved reliability and availability using analyses based on actual asset health and risk to determine maintenance actions.
• Reduced reliance on time-based maintenance
• Improved capital planning decisions based on industrywide equipment performance and failure data.
• Gain more accurate and timely knowledge about asset condition and life expectancy

Member Benefits

• Offer guidelines on what equipment specific data to collect and why?
• Provide information based on industry wide equipment performance and failure data to help utilities in making better informed decisions. For example,
  • Capital planning and spare strategies
  • Maintenance program development; task and timing selection
  • Specification and selection of new assets
  • Benchmarking
• Provide consistent analytical basis for making capital and O&M decisions

At A Glance

Overhead transmission lines present unique asset management challenges due to their significant capital costs, large and geographically dispersed footprint, public-facing profile, and vital function of moving bulk power within and among utilities. Aging infrastructure, more stringent operating requirements, financial constraints, and lost expertise through retirements make managing these transmission line assets even more complicated. Many electric utilities are considering or already have moved toward implementing asset management concepts and decision-making procedures based on minimizing equipment life-cycle costs and risks. However, the data, analytical tools, and models required for the risk assessment and management of overhead transmission lines need additional development and enhancement to maximize their value. The project intends to help address the unique overhead line issues by developing decision support tools and methods for line systems and individual components to apply new insights and inferences extracted from analysis of asset performance data (e.g., inspection; assessment; images from helicopter, foot, or unmanned aerial vehicle inspections; condition assessment data; expert knowledge).

This will be accomplished by:

• Designing, developing, populating, maintaining, and extracting information from utility supplied datasets for overhead transmission lines and components that help quantify historical performance.
• Developing condition assessment algorithms to quantify existing performance through:
  • Expert elicitation and analysis of data gathered from condition assessment/laboratory testing of overhead line components.
  • Data mining and analysis of readily available inspection and assessment data sets obtained from member utilities.
  • Analysis of industrywide performance data.
• Assessing and understanding factors influencing asset performance.
• Developing methodologies to project and assess future performance and risk.

It is intended that these elements be integrated into a comprehensive decision support framework. Research results provide utilities with new knowledge and data vital for effective asset maintenance and management.

Key Activities for 2023

• Provide guidelines on what overhead transmission component specific data to collect and why?

  • Review and annually update data models (detailed lists of what data should be collected and what types of analysis and decisions such data can support) developed in previous years for conductors, shield wires, connectors, dampers, insulators, line arresters, line switches, steel structures and wood poles

• Overhead Transmission Line Component Population Performance Assessment Based on Collection and Analysis of Industry wide Failure Data

  • This task collects asset component failure and performance data from member utilities, with the goal of enabling utilities to determine metrics more accurately such as failure rates and to optimize maintenance, repair/replacement decisions, and specification practices. Results are delivered in the form of new metrics and analytics.
  • Ongoing data collection and analysis efforts focus on the following overhead transmission line asset components: wood poles, steel structures, conductors, connectors, dampers, insulators, line arresters, and line switches.

• Transmission Line Conductors and Shield Wire Fleet Management Analytics

  • Utilizes utility-supplied laboratory testing of field aged samples or live line assessment results, replacement and demographic data, subject matter expert experience, and other inputs, such as operating environment to develop statistical models of future conductor and shield wire performance.
  • The model can be applied to assess end-of-life (population survivability) and plan capital and maintenance investments.
  • In cases where the utility does not have readily available data, EPRI can work with the utility through a one-on-one supplemental project to help collect field aged samples and perform tests to generate the data necessary for analytical model development.

• Transmission Line Structures (Wood Pole and Metal Structures) Fleet Management Analytics.

  • Develops population performance metrics and analytical techniques from utility-supplied inspection, replacement and demographic data, subject matter expert experience, and other inputs such as operating environment.
  • Results can be used to develop statistical models of future structure performance.
  • The model can be applied to plan capital and maintenance investments, prioritize inspections, and develop risk mitigation strategies (e.g., wildfires, extreme weather events etc.).

• Analytics for Fleet Management of Other Transmission Line Components (e.g., Arresters, Insulators, Spacer Dampers, Connectors etc.)

  • This task investigates the development of population performance metrics for other transmission line components.
  • Key research questions and readily available data (inspection, failures, replacement, maintenance, test results, subject matter expert experience, operating environment and other relevant EPRI research) are identified with guidance from participating members to enable the development of suitable analytics.
  • The development may lead to new knowledge of other transmission line component performance for use in planning maintenance and capital investments, inspections and replacement decision.

• Analytics for Transmission Line Risk Assessment for Fleet Management.

  • This task investigates and develops risk assessment analytics for transmission lines, considering both individual components (such as conductors, structures, insulators, and arresters) and lines as an integrated system of components.
  • Using industry wide data such as, results from condition assessment data and failure modes and degradation research, subject matter expert experience, and other inputs (family, make, model, manufacturer, operating environment), a comprehensive, holistic approach to transmission line risk assessment will be investigated.

Supplemental Projects and Application Opportunities

• Applying Overhead Transmission Asset Analytics Tools and Methodologies
• Applying Advanced Analytics to Analyze A Specific Utility’s Overhead Transmission Line Inspection, Assessment and Corrective Maintenance Data

Engagement Opportunities

For more information, contact: Bhavin Desai, Sr. Program Manager, (704) 804-1188,