Utilities are more connected than ever before. What was once a largely analog industry has introduced new technologies that improve performance, reduce costs, and enhance operations. With increased connectivity, however, comes an increased risk of cyber attacks. And as threats become both more sophisticated and frequent each year, utilities must ensure that cyber security is carefully considered with every investment.

Utility-grade thermal & visual sensors offer numerous benefits over traditional approaches to substation monitoring. By allowing both the Operations & Maintenance team and Asset Management group to monitor the health and performance of several substations simultaneously and automatically, remote monitoring solutions reduce the cost of maintenance, improve reliability, and enhance worker safety.

Thermal and visual sensors are familiar technology for utilities. Technicians already leverage similar tools when conducting physical inspections at remote substations, and the data provided by these sensors allows utilities to identify potential issues and schedule repairs.

Thermal & Visual Monitoring solutions offer utilities numerous benefits over traditional approaches to maintenance. Instead of costly truck rolls and manual inspections, utility-grade sensors allow the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) team to monitor the health of high-value substation assets remotely. By detecting sudden or prolonged changes in temperature, utilities can identify potential issues, diagnose the problem, and dispatch a crew to conduct the repair, all from a centralized location.

The traditional way of maintaining and repairing substation assets costs utilities time and money and does not make the most efficient use of scarce technical resources. Technicians must frequently visit remote locations, conduct physical inspections, record any issues, and return with the right equipment or parts to complete the repair.

Maintenance and repairs represent a significant cost for electrical utilities. A typical utility allocates around 15 percent of its total operations & maintenance (O&M) budget to planned or scheduled maintenance. While generally simple to manage, this approach can be highly inefficient. Minor issues can go unnoticed in between inspections leading to more serious failures, while crews can spend more time travelling between sites and inspecting equipment than actually conducting repairs.

Severe weather and environmental damage pose some of the most significant threats to North America’s electrical infrastructure. Major storms, heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and blizzards can all damage equipment, bring down transmission lines, and cause widespread and prolonged power outages.

The way we generate, transmit, and use electricity is changing. Driven by government policies, technological advances, and falling prices, sustainable energy sources are increasingly being used to lower emissions without compromising on reliability or affordability.

Around the world, both governments and utilities are striving to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the electricity sector through renewable and sustainable generation technologies. While these efforts have resulted in significant progress, there is still a substantial amount of work left to be done to fully decarbonize the grid while delivering affordable and reliable power to customers.

The North American electric grid is a remarkable achievement. Spreading across the entire continent, the complex mix of generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure continues to deliver reliable power to customers in even the most remote locations.