CentralNetworks signs agreement for GeoPerspective

15 November 2007, 9:22am

Central Networks signs 3-year licence agreement for GeoPerspectives aerial photography

- Photography will support adherence to new BERR requirements under ESQC regulations


Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, has signed a new licence agreement for GeoPerspectives aerial photography, extending the current agreement by a further 3 years. The licence provides access to aerial photography covering the Central Networks operating region of over 30,000 square kilometres. This will provide an up-to-date imagery dataset that will help identify the proximity of vegetation to overhead lines and the associated risk to customer supply.

Infoterra Ltd, a leader in the provision of geospatial products and services, will provide the photography to Central Networks, which is part of E.ON, one of the worlds largest power and gas companies, to help in the management of thousands of kilometres of power lines across the Midlands.

"We bring power to almost five million customers across central England, and to do so we operate enough overhead and underground cable to go round the Earth four times," commented Mark Porter, Process & Performance Team Manager at Central Networks. "Using the GeoPerspectives imagery we can identify potential problems before they become an issue for our customers and provide our maintenance team with a list of specific locations where we know that factors such as vegetation are an issue.

"This process greatly increases our efficiency at managing the network, which ultimately benefits both our customers and the companys bottom line. The aerial imagery also provides a clearly auditable way of illustrating our overhead line maintenance programme during discussions with BERR and Ofgem," he continued.

Central Networks is one of the first Distribution Network Operators to actively use aerial imagery as part of its strategy to comply with new Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reforms (BERR) Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity (ESQC) Regulations. The prime purpose of the ESQC Regulations is to provide for the safety of the public, and to ensure an electricity supply of adequate quality and reliability.

"Regular imagery updates will ensure that Central Networks continues to set the pace in the innovative use of geospatial information. In addition to trees, they will also be able to look at the potential impact on power lines from different land-use such as water bodies, tracks and roads, or even proximity to playing fields," added Dr Andy Wells, Director of Sales at Infoterra Ltd.

GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between Infoterra and BlueSky providing national coverage of orthorectified aerial photography, digital terrain & surface models (DTM/DSM) for 3D modelling, and colour infra-red imagery (CIR) for vegetation analysis.

www.geoperspectives.co.uk

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