Research Result Summaries

Latest results from ongoing tasks

Collect and analyze industry wide wood pole inspection data to better understand wood pole useful life. Through data analysis better understand the influence of various factors on pole performance. For example:
- How do different species perform?
- How effective are different original treatment types for a given pole species?
- How do pole top degradation patterns differ from groundline degradation?
- Any geographic patterns related to non-degradation damages to wood poles?
- At what age to replace poles?
- What are my projected capital needs for pole replacements?
- How would changing inspection cycle length affect my risk exposure?
To date EPRI has gathered more than 11 million wood pole inspection records from 32 companies.

Conductor and Shield Wire Performance Analytics

Collect samples of field aged conductor and shield wire. Test samples in the laboratory to assess condition. Develop techniques that utilize condition assessment information and help better understand “end-of-life” or “useful service life” of various types of conductors in different environments.
To date EPRI has gathered 662 samples of field aged conductor and shield wire.

Collect and analyze industry wide steel structure performance data (inspection, assessment, land cover/vegetation density, geo-spatial, weather, soil etc.) to uncover insights that might help with inspection, maintenance, and replacement decisions.
EPRI is currently analyzing data from 7,238 structures inspected over three years (also includes soil measurements)

Transmission Line Risk Ranking Framework

Develop a software tool that utilizes advanced analytics and readily available data (e.g., component performance, geo-spatial information, circuit level metrics, weather data, terrain etc.) to help utilizes better understand the risk associated with a specific line.