Another Utility Pursues Pilot Program for Innovative Tech

Burt County Public Power is pursuing new technologies that will better support maintenance programs for their overhead infrastructure. Burt County PPD joins Snappy Workflow’s beta program this summer season for large scale grid optimization. Utilities like Burt Co PPD are looking for ways to cost effectively optimize the system. 

“Burt County PPD is excited to work with Snappy Workflow on the beta program. We feel that this technology will help us to efficiently maintain our lines so that we can provide safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to our customers,” said General Manager, Jon Dockhorn.

Thermography is a non-contact way to identify failing components so proactive repairs can be made. Until now technology limited using thermography at scale without negatively impacting rates or limited personnel during peak season.

The team at Snappy Workflow is developing a vehicle-based sensor and software package to enable utilities a real-time snapshot of hundreds of miles of powerline in just a day. When scaled properly, this will directly improve the maintenance programs at the utility, with minimal cost vs traditional methods.

“Electric Utilities have been digitizing their field mapping for many years. Snappy’s data processing program will organize their data that is easy to use, and integrate with their existing GIS/Mapping software and programs in a fraction of the time” said Curtis Kayton, Snappy’s President. 

Here is an example of how inspectors are trying to inspect distribution line from a vehicle.