EVN applies digital technology to quickly resolve incidents caused by natural disasters

Severe natural disasters with rainstorms and floods occur very seriously with extreme, unusual and unpredictable effects. So what solutions have member organizations under Vietnam Electricity been adopting to respond to and quickly resolve incidents caused by natural disasters, ensuring safety for people and the power system?

Technology application

Advanced technical technology, digital technology is considered as one of the effective shields, helping the power sector to proactively respond to natural disasters and thus minimize damages.

Power Transmission Company No.3 (PTC 3) has been managing and operating the transmission grid with voltages ranging from 220kV to 500kV in the Central provinces, the Central Highlands, which are often affected by rainstorms. Mr. Ho Cong - Deputy Director of PTC 3 said that the company has applied UAV technology (unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with CCTV camera) to monitor gridline equipment and substations in order to improve work efficiency, check the quality of operating equipment under energized condition, and promptly detect defects that may cause incidents during the rainy and stormy season. This flying device works effectively in inspecting the entire power line, especially in floods when electric workers cannot access incident positions after rainstorms.

In particular, PTC 3 has installed about 130 3G and 4G cameras to observe 24/24h critical locations on the gridlines such as mountainous areas, areas at risk of landslides during the rainy and stormy season; areas where falling trees may violate the right of way of the power grids. The cameras have remote control and warning functions to promptly detect incidents and risk of incidents. Stored data transferred to the company can control and assess the status, from which the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control can give directions for handling incidents in a timely manner.

The company has also experimented with the application of AI in image processing and recognition technology, analyzed images from photographic equipment, cameras and UAVs to identify/classify abnormal/normal phenomena while checking the gridlines.

Inspection image of the Di Linh - Tan Dinh 500kV transmission line taken by PTC 3's UAV device. Photo: VCP

The Central Power Corporation has deployed electronic worksheets and applied them in site inspection. In case employees have to carry out an inventory of damages after a storm, the information update on the electronic worksheet will be done online right from the site, reducing time lag in the reporting process. The electronification of statistics shows many advantages, especially in the complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting physical contact between employees and departments. At the same time, taking advantage of data sources from applications and software; shortening the time for handling and resolving incidents after natural disasters, promotes the role of digital transformation being implemented throughout EVN.