POWER January 2022 - 15

FOCUS ON O&M
to up-to-date inspection data and faults,
these departments will have the ability
to be more proactive, especially when
dealing with customers. For example,
with better visibility into the scope of detected
faults, customer support teams
can provide more accurate information
about the location and expected duration
of any blackouts.
3. A light detection and ranging (LiDAR)
point cloud image used for vegetation analysis
as shown in the uBird platform. Courtesy:
Hepta Airborne
data readily available, one potential use
case is that grid managers can run realistic
scenarios using these digital twins for
planned upgrades or other changes before
any work is actually done. By doing so,
they can avoid costly hiccups from unexpected
issues found in the field (Figure 3).
Beyond field operations, a digital
platform with up-to-date T&D inspection
data can help inform operations
throughout the utility from operations
and maintenance to customer support
to regulatory affairs. With ready access
Safe Data Management
There are a couple issues that currently
stand in the way of a more fluid exchange
of inspection data throughout the utility.
One is that many utility departments run
off siloed data repositories. Copying and
moving these into a single repository to
serve the entire organization is not only
time-consuming and expensive, it can
also introduce vulnerabilities that could
be exploited by hackers. Another issue is
that this data is sensitive. Different employees
in different departments should
only have access to the appropriate subset
of the data they are authorized for.
Intertrust and Hepta have partnered to
develop the Intertrust Platform, a modern
big data digital rights management
platform, as a solution. Intertrust's data
virtualization technology can help tie
together the multiple data repositories
where this data is currently being held
without having to move it. It also provides
flexible access management technologies
that can implement policies to
ensure that access to data is only given
to authorized entities.
One important point is that data access
policies can be instituted for both
humans and software algorithms. As
part of the digitization process, utilities
are adopting machine learning and artificial
intelligence algorithms developed
by third-party software developers. Intertrust's
secure execution environment is
able to run these algorithms in a secure
" sandbox " where their access to data is
tightly controlled, as well as where any
analytics results are sent.
At this point, it's clear the digital utility
is the future of the electrical energy
industry. With the proper digital tools,
T&D inspection can both increase its efficiency
and effectiveness as well as work
more closely with the entire organization
to increase customer satisfaction.
-Florian Kolb is Chief Commercial Officer
and general manager for Energy at
Intertrust, and Henri Klemmer is CEO
and co-founder of Hepta Airborne.
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POWER January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER January 2022
