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FirstEnergy Introduces New Technology to Cut Vegetation-Related Outage
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FirstEnergy Corporation (FE - Free Report) introduced a new technology that will assist in predicting and reducing tree-related outages beforehand across its service area. Proper vegetation management is essential for transmission and distribution companies as this increases the entire system’s resiliency and reduces the possibility of outages during storms.
FirstEnergy’s transmission and distribution lines are spread across a very wide area, with terrains ranging from flat agricultural land to rugged mountainous conditions more than 3,000 feet in elevation. To manage the vast network of electricity lines, the company introduced the Advanced Vegetation Analytics Tool, the prediction model pulls data – including soil, weather, roadway, historical outage data, geographical typography and high-resolution aerial patrol photos – from several internal and external databases.
All these data sets work together to identify patterns and calculate the likelihood of a tree coming down on a power line or equipment to ensure problematic trees are swiftly addressed. This new tool will assist FirstEnergy in ensuring safe and reliable flow of electricity to its customers. It is also helping the company in managing crews and budgets more efficiently.
Vegetation Management Essential for Utilities
Proper vegetation management is essential for transmission and distribution (T&D) companies to provide uninterrupted services to its customers. Due to climate change globally, extreme weather conditions are experienced by utility operators with storms uprooting trees and damaging the high voltage power lines. Vegetation management is a recurring expense and is one of the major expenses for T&D companies. Utilities spend billions of dollars annually to protect infrastructure from vegetation.
Utilities have tried to use various methods to keep vegetation from power lines. These have used aerial saws to trim vegetation and utilized helicopters to quickly inspect thousands of miles of power lines in different areas and took essential measures. FirstEnergy and Entergy Corporation (ETR - Free Report) have been using the aerial saw to trim trees to maintain adequate clearance between power lines and trees.
Entergy has nearly 16,000 miles of transmission lines carrying high-voltage electricity. The aerial saw provides a safe and efficient tool for crews to maintain vegetation around power transmission and distribution systems and serve its customers.
To avoid the impact of vegetation and extreme weather conditions, utilities like Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) have undertaken a Strategic Underground Program to bury power lines underground to reduce power outages and make the grid more resilient.
FirstEnergy Stock’s Price Performance
In the past year, shares of FE have risen 42.1% compared with the industry’s 39.7% growth.
Pampa Energía reported average earnings surprise of 61.9% in the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 and 2025 earnings per share has moved up 10.6% and 13.5%, respectively, in the past 60 days.
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FirstEnergy Introduces New Technology to Cut Vegetation-Related Outage
FirstEnergy Corporation (FE - Free Report) introduced a new technology that will assist in predicting and reducing tree-related outages beforehand across its service area. Proper vegetation management is essential for transmission and distribution companies as this increases the entire system’s resiliency and reduces the possibility of outages during storms.
FirstEnergy’s transmission and distribution lines are spread across a very wide area, with terrains ranging from flat agricultural land to rugged mountainous conditions more than 3,000 feet in elevation. To manage the vast network of electricity lines, the company introduced the Advanced Vegetation Analytics Tool, the prediction model pulls data – including soil, weather, roadway, historical outage data, geographical typography and high-resolution aerial patrol photos – from several internal and external databases.
All these data sets work together to identify patterns and calculate the likelihood of a tree coming down on a power line or equipment to ensure problematic trees are swiftly addressed. This new tool will assist FirstEnergy in ensuring safe and reliable flow of electricity to its customers. It is also helping the company in managing crews and budgets more efficiently.
Vegetation Management Essential for Utilities
Proper vegetation management is essential for transmission and distribution (T&D) companies to provide uninterrupted services to its customers. Due to climate change globally, extreme weather conditions are experienced by utility operators with storms uprooting trees and damaging the high voltage power lines. Vegetation management is a recurring expense and is one of the major expenses for T&D companies. Utilities spend billions of dollars annually to protect infrastructure from vegetation.
Utilities have tried to use various methods to keep vegetation from power lines. These have used aerial saws to trim vegetation and utilized helicopters to quickly inspect thousands of miles of power lines in different areas and took essential measures. FirstEnergy and Entergy Corporation (ETR - Free Report) have been using the aerial saw to trim trees to maintain adequate clearance between power lines and trees.
Entergy has nearly 16,000 miles of transmission lines carrying high-voltage electricity. The aerial saw provides a safe and efficient tool for crews to maintain vegetation around power transmission and distribution systems and serve its customers.
To avoid the impact of vegetation and extreme weather conditions, utilities like Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) have undertaken a Strategic Underground Program to bury power lines underground to reduce power outages and make the grid more resilient.
FirstEnergy Stock’s Price Performance
In the past year, shares of FE have risen 42.1% compared with the industry’s 39.7% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
FirstEnergy’s Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked utility operating in the same industry is Pampa Energía S.A. (PAM - Free Report) , currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Pampa Energía reported average earnings surprise of 61.9% in the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 and 2025 earnings per share has moved up 10.6% and 13.5%, respectively, in the past 60 days.