With so much of our busy, modern lives powered by electricity, a power outage can bring us to a standstill.
From household activities like cooking, heating, and entertainment, to the operation of our key infrastructure such as hospitals, airports, and even petrol stations, we depend heavily on electricity every day.
At Unison, we understand how critical electricity is to the everyday lives of our customers – from home owners to major manufacturing businesses. That is why we have a team of specialist engineers who are focused on ensuring the network is operating at a world-class standard; researching, testing and deploying the latest cost-effective technology and knowledge that will provide increased reliability to customers.
Some examples of how Unison is improving network reliability:
Creating a Smart Network: Unison is leading the electricity distribution industry with the deployment of smart technology that will automate many aspects of the day-to-day management of our network. Using fibre optic networks and radio transmitters, ‘smart’ technology can give real-time data to our Control Room on the state of the network, as well as perform automated actions that can restore power within seconds.
Reducing the risk of damage: With over 20% of network outages caused by trees coming into contact with power lines, Unison annually surveys the network to monitor the growth of trees near power lines, and has a team dedicated to working with landowners to keep vegetation well clear of the lines.
Proactive asset management: We are continually looking at new systems, technology and processes that can help us get the most out of our assets, by extending their life through careful management and maintenance, and by determining the remaining life of that asset, so it can be replaced before it fails.
Maximising Performance through Design: Unison is also continually looking at how network design impacts our ability to restore supply to customers, should a fault occur on the network. For example, we aim to design ‘redundancy’ into the network wherever possible, meaning that although supply might be cut off from one area of the network, customers can be reconnected using an alternative supply, until repairs can be completed.