Cost effective vegetation management using aerial survey

Abstract

A low cost aerial survey system has been proposed to reduce Transpower's exposure to vegetation risk and to make cost savings of up to $500k p.a. to the $1OM per annum vegetation management budget. The system would predict the growth of individual trees and would guide work schedulers to plan work more efficiently. Transfield Services (now Broadspectrum) and Fraser Rhind (independent consultants) have both raised concerns with current vegetation inspection practices and have stated that Transpower has poor visibility of their vegetation risk. They also noted that human inspectors are prone to missing problem trees, and that ground access issues impede an inspector's ability to assess vegetation clearance in some areas. These flaws leave Transpower wearing the risk of unidentified or mis-measured vegetation. The proposed system would address these concerns, reducing the risk of vegetation related incidents and thereby improving Grid reliability. Project Purpose: The purpose of this project was: To determine the feasibility and appropriateness of an aerial survey system; To establish the most cost effective method for gathering improved vegetation data; To establish the potential benefit to be derived from such a system and to make a costed go-no go recommendation.