Vegetation management and NERC FAC-003 compliance

In the U.S., our vegetation products facilitate compliance with NERC Standard FAC-003 - a regulation formulated to prevent outages on the scale of the 2003 blackout that affected large tracts of the Northeast U.S. and Canada.

Network Mapping’s LiDAR system provides a very high-resolution survey dataset for your transmission lines, which will capture the worst spatial and vertical extent of any vegetation.

Shortly after flying your lines, we rapidly report vegetation infringing within a pre-defined radius of the as-surveyed conductor position.

We are then able to fully model the conductors and perform checks at maximum rated temperature, or a combination of any loading and weather scenario - to pinpoint vegetation that requires attention. This includes checks for both fall-in and grow-in violations.

Advantages of our approach

Accurate identification of infringements
Ability to model conductors under all load and weather conditions
User-friendly output for immediate field staff use
Backbone of a continuing TVMP
Auditable method that demonstrates FAC-003-1 compliance
Mitigation of fines for vegetation-related outages, which can be as much as $1,000,000/day. Non-monetary sanctions, such as requirements to improve a utility's TVMP, can be much greater in cost than the monetary fines.

As-flown infringement checks

It is possible to identify any vegetation encroachments within a pre-defined radius from the conductor in its as-survey position, shortly after aerial acquisition. The utility defines the radius, based on NERC Clearance 1 considerations (e.g., 25 ft).

The distance to vegetation from the as-surveyed wire positions will be checked, and any infringement on this pre-defined distance will be highlighted and reported.

Maximum sag and sway

The data is processed to provide pinpoint vegetation checks that locate both 'falling tree' and grow-in vegetation violations, at maximum conductor sag condition. The checks will be conducted with a pre-defined radius, with consideration given to NERC Phase 2 clearances (reduced from as-flown, since conductor position is at maximum sag).

This phase of the project requires processing in PLS-CADD™ by our dedicated engineers and technicians, who will:

Import classified aerial LiDAR data into PLS-CADD™
Graphically sag the conductors
Display the conductors at maximum sag
Run 'danger tree' analysis to client requirements
Export data into formats stipulated

Google Earth

We can show infringements within Google Earth, allowing a simple 'point and click' interface. This data is hosted locally on a secure network, and is only available to employees of a utility.