Utilligent helps Waipa Networks with asset management program
New Zealand-based electricity provider Waipa Networks has advanced its asset and power network operations, improving safety and reliability across the company’s distribution network.
Founded over 100 years ago, Waipa Networks is an electricity distribution business supplying over 28,000 customer connections in Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Kawhia and surrounds.
In a bid to modernise its asset management operations, Waipa Networks last year launched a transformation program. Utilligent, a global management consulting firm dedicated to the utilities sector, was selected as the lead consultant.
First step of the program was to adopt technology to enhance insights into Waipa Networks’ assets. Waipa Networks decided to implement Roames (an application from Fugro), software which creates a ‘3D virtual world asset model’. Using this model, utility companies can visualise and mitigate ground clearance threats, vegetation encroachment issues, structural safety distances risks, dangerous pole leans, and any asset defects.
The next step focused on developing a business intelligence tool which is used to prioritise and mitigate issues, risks, and defects.
Finally, the joint Waipa Networks and Utilligent project team defined a governance model that gives engineers and asset managers the tools and insights to expedite work orders and deliver improvement and continuous enhancement objectives.
Peter Armstrong, Waipa’s Network Asset Manager, said: “The aerial survey program and the associated data analytic tools have given us a comprehensive view on our overhead network data and condition that we have never had before. Meanwhile, the Fugro ROAMES™ analytic outcomes are driving actional reporting, which will greatly assist in our ongoing management of the assets.”
Commenting on the firm’s work, Jay Reseigh, a Vice President at Utilligent, said: “Gone are the days of walking the lines and taking photographs of poles from the ground, which often takes years. The spatial analytics provided by Roames dramatically reduce the time required to inspect the network, allowing Waipa Networks to quickly identify hazardous scenarios, and set the foundation for reliability and improvements.”
Utilligent operates with 12 offices globally, nine of which are in the United States. The other three are in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) and New Zealand (Auckland).
