Duke Energy FL Compliance Program Overview for FAC-003-1 - Prepared By: John Pinney Vegetation Management Transmission Mgr

Duke Energy FL Compliance Program
      Overview for FAC-003-1
 Prepared By: John Pinney Vegetation Management Transmission Mgr
                Contact Info: John.Pinney@Duke-Energy.Com

Where It All Began
 ● Where It All Began

Duke Energy Florida
     Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R1 – Transmission Vegetation Management Program (TVMP)

     Duke Energy Florida (DEF) utilizes a “Defense in Depth” approach in the
    TVMP. The TVMP is consistent with the requirements outlined in the Standard,
    each program component is aligned as the requirement is written, this allows the
    auditor the ability to review the RSAW in an orderly, easy to follow fashion.
    Document control is extremely important to manage and document any changes
    in the various program components.

Duke Energy Florida
       Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R1.1 – TVMP Inspections

    DEF performs, two annual aerial patrols of the entire system annually. These
    are performed in the spring prior to the growing season to identify potential
    growth that could impact reliability or cause a Clearance 2 violation. A fall patrol is
    also performed to identify any potential clearance issues following the growing
    season, hazard trees are identified throughout the inspections. Any vegetation
    that may be a threat is documented within the span, prioritized and a work order
    (W.O.) is created and sent to the field for mitigation. These patrols are also used
    to inspect prior work performed and plan for future work.

Duke Energy Florida
       Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R1.1 – TVMP Inspections

     Ground patrols are performed annually on all lines >200 KV prior to the
    summer peak load. These patrols are focused on identifying any vegetation
    encroachment into the ROW, specific “real time” clearances, follow up from the
    spring aerial patrol findings and a more thorough inspection of potential hazard
    trees. These also serve as an inspection tool to ensure prior ROW clearing
    projects, such as; herbicide or hazard tree clearing were performed to DEF
    specifications. Lines planned for maintenance in that calendar year are excluded
    from the ground patrols.

    Peer checks and QA/QC are performed throughout and following these
    inspection programs.

    Ruggedized tablets with Geospatial referencing are utilized during all patrol
    activities. This ensures accuracy for the findings and creates W.O’s from the
    tablet that are then forwarded to field resources for mitigation.

Duke Energy Florida
      Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R1.2 – TVMP Clearances

     Clearance 1 DEF has established specific clearance tables, “program document”
    based upon anticipated growth, conductor movement and cycle length to establish
    Clearance 1 based on voltages. These are communicated as an expectation within
    our specifications to ensure contractor adherence.

    Clearance 2 DEF has adopted Table 5, IEEE 516-2003 as our minimum clearance
    distance for the lines >200KV that we manage.

Duke Energy Florida
        Transmission Vegetation Management Program
•R1.3 – Staff Qualifications

     DEF defines the minimum qualifications for the various levels of responsibility
    that each staff member of the vegetation management team must have to qualify
    for the position held.

•R1.4 – Mitigation Measures “Corrective Action Plans”

     DEF views these as short term remedies while a permanent solution is in
    development. We have taken a unique approach to resolving many field
    conditions where clearing rights may be limited or restricted because of easement
    rights, landowner issues or environmental issues therefore limiting our ability to
    obtain the required clearances.
         oEntire circuits may be broken into separate projects based on clearance constraints.
         These constraints may be attributed to roadsides, islands, swamps or other limiting
         factors where the specified cycle length will not allow us to maintain clearances
         according to our specifications before the next scheduled maintenance.

         oIndividual W.O.’s are created for these segments of line and cycles are assigned
         accordingly. These may consist of as little as one span in some cases, this helps ensure
         reliability and compliance and automatically inserts the project into the “Annual Work
         Plan” according to the cycle length. This makes us less reliant on inspections.

Duke Energy Florida
       Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R1.5 – DEF Imminent Threat Process

     DEF has a program document that defines our imminent threat process. This
    process includes identification of an imminent threat, notification hierarchy and a
    complete and up to date list of all pertinent VM and Energy Control Center
    personnel and contact numbers. Training is provided to all VM personnel annually
    including our contractors and a laminated card with the process and phone
    numbers is kept on all VM contractor vehicles. All DEF VM staff also receive
    communication of all momentaries and outages on the DEF system.

Duke Energy Florida
       Transmission Vegetation Management Program

•R2 – TVMP Annual Work Plan

     DEF is currently using a database to manage our annual work plans and
    facilitate the creation and closure of our individual W.O.’s and projects. This
    system allows us to query projects according to cycle due date and last
    completion date to establish our annual plan, this in addition to details from our
    inspections allows us to focus our clearing projects on the most critical work. Our
    contractors complete weekly productivity sheets that report work completed by
    task and the associated man hours by span. This in turn is audited by DEF to
    ensure compliance with our specifications. Before a W.O. on a complete project
    can be closed the line must be inspected in its entirety and a “Line Completion
    Form” signed by the DEF Forester and the contractor.

     A spreadsheet is kept for each area that captures permit requirements and
    documented changes with explanations.

Duke Energy Florida
   Transmission Vegetation Management Program

                               Keys to Success
Communication with staff, regulatory authorities and contractors as it pertains to
 the intent of the program.
Documentation and document control, concise specifications, contracts and
 program documents.
Checks and balances.
Ongoing training for all involved.
Up to date technology and tools for those implementing the program.
Management support.
Participation in industry related peer groups.
Don’t add unnecessary “fluff” to your program that you cannot provide clear
 evidence for when it comes to an audit.
Don’t rely on “it worked for the last 16 years”, why change it.
Lessons Learned – Example: “Forbes Island Outage”

Duke Energy Florida
Transmission Vegetation Management Program

                Questions & Answer
                     Session