Streamlining Electrical Utility Infrastructure Inspection Workflows

Electrical utility infrastructure inspections ensure the safety, reliability, and efficiency of society’s functions.

However, the industry faces increasing challenges, such as aging infrastructure, safety risk concerns, growing assets, data overload, georeferencing issues, compliance and regulatory standards, costs, and lack of streamlined workflows, which can hinder these goals.

The gNext Platform streamlines electrical utility inspection workflows and addresses these challenges.

Challenges with Electrical Utility Inspections

Most electrical utility companies must follow strict inspection and maintenance protocols to ensure the integrity and functionality of power system infrastructure. Regular inspections help identify potential faults before they escalate into significant problems, safeguarding public safety and the continuity of service.

Challenges may include:

1. Aging Infrastructure & Safety Risk Concerns: As asset components wear down over time, the likelihood of failure increases, requiring more frequent and thorough inspections.
   
   
2. Growing Amount of Assets: As the scope of utility assets that need inspection and maintenance continuously increases, so does the number of qualified inspectors. Traditional methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and risky as the number of assets increases.
   
   
3. Data Overload & Lack of Utility-Specific Software: Advanced technologies have resulted in an overwhelming amount of data for utility companies to manage. Many existing software solutions are not tailored specifically for utility needs, leading to inefficiencies in data processing and analysis.
   
   
4. Georeferencing Issues: Accurate georeferencing is critical for effective asset management and inspection planning. Inconsistencies in spatial data can lead to misaligned resources and inefficient workflow execution.
   
   
5. Compliance and Regulatory Standards: Electrical utility organizations must follow rigorous protocols to ensure infrastructure safety and reliability. Regulatory demands for accurate facility ratings and substation inspections are increasing, and non-compliance can lead to fines and penalties from bodies like the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
   
   
6. Costs: Due to limited personnel and budgets, most utility companies can only afford to inspect some assets at the required level.
   
   
7. Lack of Streamlined Workflows: Inspection processes can become disjointed and cumbersome. This often results in increased downtime, higher costs, and reduced operational efficiency. Read our latest electrical utility case study to learn how AVECC overcame these challenges.

Electrical Utility Infrastructure Inspection Made Easy with gNext

The gNext Platform is tailored to meet the electrical utility industry’s unique challenges. By integrating cutting-edge technology with user-focused design principles, gNext offers benefits in transforming how utilities conduct their inspections:

1. Enhanced Safety Measures & Reduced Downtime: By providing real-time insights into infrastructure health, gNext enables proactive maintenance strategies that improve safety while reducing unplanned outages.
   
2. Streamlined Inspections and Reporting: gNext automates various aspects of the inspection process, from data collection to reporting. This automation reduces manual effort, minimizes errors, and accelerates turnaround times.

“One of us can go out in the field, fly the drone, and finish data collection in less than a day,” shared Levi Young, GIS Analyst, Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative. The move to drone-based inspections without requiring employees to be physically present within the job site enhanced safety by avoiding exposure to potential risks and hazardous weather conditions.

3. Enhanced Georeferencing Capabilities: With advanced geospatial tools built into its platform, gNext ensures precise location tracking for all assets. This accuracy facilitates better resource allocation and more efficient inspection routes.

The georeferencing capabilities within the gNext Platform ensured precise location tracking for each inspection point for Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative Corporation.

Regarding the missing pole tags, gNext assisted AVECC by providing GPS coordinates for the pole thanks to drone-collected data. The GPS coordinates and visual documentation through the gNext Platform eliminated the reliance on physical pole tags.

4. Tracking Assets Change Over Time Comparisons: gNext allows users to monitor asset changes over time through historical data comparisons. This feature helps identify trends and predict future maintenance needs more accurately.

5. Annotation Efficiency: gNext’s intuitive annotation tools allow quick marking up images or maps during inspections. These annotations streamline communication among team members and improve documentation quality and accuracy.

“The annotation feature in gNext has been a boon. No more manual annotation; we can mark and document issues easily, making the inspection process much smoother,” shared Levi Young, GIS Analyst, Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative.

6. Time and Cost Savings: By optimizing workflows and reducing redundancies, gNext significantly reduces the time spent on inspections and overall operational costs.

Electrical Utility Data Security & Compliance

Data security is critical for any digital platform handling sensitive information. gNext provides top-tier security and compliance to protect data and ensure peace of mind by adhering to stringent security standards, including SOC2 compliance, Single Sign-On (SSO), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and end-to-end data encryption.

gNext Integration with ESRI  

We’re excited to announce our new integration with ESRI, enabling seamless access to your gNext data through Web Map Tile Service (WMTS).

So, now you can easily visualize all your organizational maps within popular ESRI products, including ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, ArcGIS Enterprise, and ArcGIS API for JavaScript. 

Here are the gNext-ESRI Integration Highlights: 

• Real-time updates: Automatically see the latest map data from your gNext projects. New maps are added to the WMTS service as soon as they’re processed, ensuring you always have the most up-to-date information.
  
• Eliminate siloed data: You can now process and manage data in gNext and access it through ESRI to fit into existing ESRI workflows.
  
• Integrate with drone management software: You can now easily integrate gNext with your flight management software to visualize all gNext data within your software suites.
  
• Simplified data access: Access all your gNext site maps using a single WMTS link: https://api.gnextlabs.com/v1/wmts?api_key={api_key}
  (Note: you will need to replace {api key} with your API key for the url to work.)
  
• Easy integration: Follow straightforward steps (shown in the video below) to add your gNext WMTS layer to any ESRI platform, simply add your gNext WMTS URL and API key to integrate your data.

How to Load a gNext Organization-Level Layer in ESRI

Watch the video below to learn how to access the latest map data for all your projects using gNext within ESRI platforms.

Overall, the gNext-ESRI integration will allow seamless access to your gNext data, giving you real-time updates, eliminating siloed data, allowing easy integration and simplified data access, and easy integration with your existing drone management software.

Choose gNext to Improve Your Electrical Utility Challenges

The electrical utility industry faces numerous challenges, from aging infrastructure to managing vast unstructured data. gNext offers innovative solutions by streamlining inspection workflows and enhancing overall safety measures, paving the way for a more efficient and secure future.

Discover how the gNext Platform revolutionized workflows in the Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative Corporation case study.