Everyone Accepts the Smart Grid Bringing Intelligence to the Substation, smartness to the distribution circuits and even ingenuity to the customer connection. But has it skipped over the industry's forceful linemen? Definitely not! For those who have not looked in a line truck lately, you just might be surprised to see the advanced technologies finding their way into the everyday life of the line crew.

What if a phone call needs to be made from the middle of the desert or an area ravaged by a storm? A lineman can use the satellite phone in the cab of the line truck.

What if the exact height needs to be known of a transmission line's energized conductor? The lineman can take out the TruPulse laser range finder, from Laser Technology Inc. (Centennial, Colorado, U.S.), stored in the bin on the side of the line truck.

What if a temperature needs to be taken of the contact on a line sectionalizing switch on a structure? The lineman can take out the ThermaCAM infrared camera, from FLIR Systems (Wilsonville, Oregon, U.S.), stored in the tool compartment of the line truck and take a reading to see if the temperature is within normal ratings. This tool also can detect SF₆ gas leaking from the interrupter bottle, making the lineman environmentally friendly, too.

Linemen are probably the most pragmatic of any group in a utility. Yes, there are some folks in the line department who would rather walk barefoot across hot coals than use a computer, but they can be found in the engineering department, too. There is also the normal skepticism brought about by technology and change. As one lineman put it, “Mobile workforce management system is just another attempt by ‘Big Brother’ to watch me.”

Fortunately, many others don't buy into this philosophy. They see the real value in technology. If a new tool or technology makes life simpler and it works, then linemen are going to use it. They are not afraid they will lose their job if it takes less time to get that job done. They know there is more work out there than can be done by the current workforce. Talk about doing more with less. Linemen and technicians are the front line keeping the antique transmission infrastructure operating, despite the constant pressure from misguided management to reduce costs by limiting maintenance and cutting equipment budgets.

A COMPLEX WORLD

Remember the time when one or two individuals knew a utility's entire transmission system from top to bottom? They were walking encyclopedias of information. If there was a question about how a structure was made or how to get to it, these folks knew the answer.

The world is different now. It is a lot more complex and utility customers are much more sensitive to prolonged outages. Many stand-alone utilities have become part of holding companies through mergers and acquisitions.

Maintenance, inspection and outage systems are now capable of not only collecting asset data, but also incorporating geographical information system (GIS) with geographical positioning system (GPS) capabilities to produce true mobile workforce management systems.

LIKE A HAMMER IN HAND

About six years ago, Southern Company decided to add GIS/GPS capability to its Southern Company Transmission Operation and Maintenance Program (STOMP) software. Remi Myers, a transmission specialist with Georgia Power (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.), was part of the development and testing. “The utility's goal was to make the software as user friendly as possible for the lineman — a tool as comfortable as a hammer in your hand,” said Myers.

The ultimate test was in the software's deployment to linemen. In order to provide the field crews with a stable product that would be in place for several years, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the Panasonic (Secaucus, New Jersey, U.S.) Toughbook ruggedized laptop computers. ESRI's (Redlands, California, U.S.) ArcMap platform was selected to give STOMP GIS/GPS abilities. Initially, everyone used clipboards with a host of paper forms. Southern Company took those familiar forms and adapted them to the new STOMP software. Myers describes the system as a “virtual clipboard” that has an added feature that a physical clipboard does not — he called it “a GIS with a GPS capability.”

The initial pilot deployment of the data-collection tool was completed in spring 2004, just before the hurricane season. The 2004 season had four major hurricanes hit the U.S. mainland in just under six weeks. Myers remembers that he and Jim “Bubba” Handley, now a retired senior transmission specialist of Southern Company, were delivering the new ruggedized laptops with STOMP software to crews as they were preparing to head to Florida for storm restoration.

Shortly thereafter Handley and Myers themselves used the flexibility of the GIS applications while conducting air patrols over North Georgia after Hurricane Ivan had swept through the area. “It was a rough day of flying,” Myers recalled. He and Handley were able to use the GPS components of the GIS applications to better direct the pilot in line patrols, collect data about outages and inform the ground crews of the best way to navigate to downed lines. “We were able to use the digital maps and photos we collected to brief the storm managers and receive guidance for additional patrols,” said Myers.

TECHNOLOGY EMBRACED

The 2005 hurricane season exceeded 2004, producing seven major hurricanes. Four of these had been ranked category 5 storms, including Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Mississippi Coast, resulting in power outages for every customer of Mississippi Power (Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S.), another Southern Company subsidiary. Southern Company sent line crews from all over its territory to Mississippi to restore electrical service.

Patricia Jermyn, an engineering specialist for Mississippi Power, worked closely with linemen in the field during the STOMP GIS/GPS deployment period. She taught both the computer skills and operational characteristics of the data-collection system. “There was some push back from the linemen,” said Jermyn. “Many linemen were unsure about having laptops in their trucks.”

However, all of that changed with the storm-restoration efforts brought about as a result of the hurricanes' destruction. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast, Jermyn's role of teacher quickly switched to one of staff support, updating and supplying transmission system data of the neighboring transmission systems to the line crews' laptops. Jermyn said, “There was a marked change in attitude for the better toward STOMP and the Toughbook laptops.”

Bob Stuckey, a transmission specialist for Georgia Power, was on the receiving end of all this information. He was sent from Georgia to Mississippi to help rebuild the transmission system after Katrina. Although he had plenty of paper road maps and paper transmission system maps, Stuckey said they weren't much help when there were no street signs or buildings to serve as landmarks for miles in any direction.

Stuckey speaks highly about his trusty Toughbook loaded with a GPS containing every imaginable detail of the area. “It had all the information needed for the storm-damaged transmission system, including structure locations, streets, highways, roads and even the ‘pig paths’ needed to get the job done,” said Stuckey. “And it was loaded before I left home.”

The GPS showed him exactly where he was in relation to everything else as he moved through the area. It was updated daily. Stuckey said, “I could see photos of how the structures looked prior to the storm and how they looked after the storm.”