Powerco automates regional wide-area vulnerability assessment

Powerco is taking significant steps to ensure the resilience of its infrastructure against climate change by completing a regional wide-area asset vulnerability assessment using geospatial hazard analysis.

With thousands of assets across New Zealand, manually assessing asset exposure and vulnerability over various climate scenarios and time horizons would be time intensive. To address this challenge, Powerco partnered with Locus to develop a custom-built data integration solution using FME.  A specialist team of engineers was also trained to analyse the FME output in Powerco’s Geographic Information system (GIS) overlaying diverse data attributes to determine asset vulnerability. Together, the results have informed Powerco’s asset management strategies and expenditure planning, detailed in its gas and electricity asset management plans. 

As New Zealand’s largest electricity utility by area and one of the country’s major gas distributors, Powerco manages more than 29,000 km of electricity lines and 6,200 km of gas pipelines serving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.    

Recently, Powerco released its Climate-related Disclosures Report and Climate Adaptation & Resilience Plan, both integral components of its future ready networks strategy and long-term asset management planning.   

These reports fulfil Powerco’s data reporting requirements as a lifeline utility under the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 and comply with the Commerce Commission’s regulatory requirements. While Powerco is not a mandated Climate Reporting Entity (CRE), Powerco's climate-related disclosures align with New Zealand’s Aotearoa Climate Standards issued by the External Reporting Board (XRB). This reporting helps Powerco’s customers and shareholders understand how climate change is impacting the business now and in the future. 

“Getting the plan to completion has been a major team effort involving many people across the business sharing their expertise,” says Powerco Sustainability Engineer Elizabeth Shires. 

Understanding climate risk  

As a mature asset owner, Powerco wanted to understand the external climatic risks to its networks across multiple scenarios and ensure investments support a safe, sustainable, resilient, reliable, and affordable service. To achieve this goal, Powerco published its first Climate Adaptation & Resilience Plan and Climate-related Disclosures Report, outlining actions and strategies to manage physical climate risks.  

These documents, available on Powerco’s website, consolidate years of planning for climate impacts into a cohesive approach.  The XRB’s Aotearoa Climate mandate entities disclose the amount or percentage of assets vulnerable to physical risks, helping stakeholders better understand financial vulnerabilities and align transition strategies with funding and capital deployment. 

Powerco's assessment focused on material climate hazards including acute risks like floods and chromic risks, such as sea level rise, over short, medium and long erm horizons. Detailed scenario analyses are presented in its Climate Adaptation & Resilience Plan. 

Automating asset exposure with FME 

To evaluate the exposure of thousands of gas and electricity assets to flooding and sea level rise across three warming scenarios and time horizons, Powerco engaged Locus to develop an FME workbench process.  

The process integrated electricity and gas asset data with climate hazard data in Powerco’s GIS platform. FME’s capabilities enabled the analysis of these datasets including point, line, or polygon geometries to identify impacted assets. 

Custom rules were developed to identify assets at risk. For example, underground gas pipes and electricity cables on bridges were flagged due to flooding vulnerability. 

Powerco Gas Asset Strategy Manager Anna Middlemass says bridges are vulnerable to flooding where river water rises, and debris can impact assets.  
 
“We only have to look at recent flooding events in Napier. The Waitangi (Tūtaekurī) River bridge was the most affected during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, prompting ongoing investigations into proactive measures,” she says. 

Other rules identified electricity overhead conductors near forests, active slips or river crossings.  

“Road damage to remote communities greatly impacts the ability to repair networks damaged by storms, such as the road washout of Coast Road to Ākitio during Cyclone Gabrielle. High winds can cause vegetation outside of the tree clearance zones to fall on lines and cause widespread outages. Rivers can erode and impact assets on riverbanks,” says Powerco Electricity Future Networks Engineering Manager Kewen Kueh. 

The result was a comprehensive list of assets exposed to climate hazards, over various scenarios, and across time horizons. 

Mapping vulnerability and future adaptations 

A team of Powerco engineers was trained in GIS to analyse the FME-generated outputs. By filtering results and overlaying varying factors like critical customer supply points, such as hospitals, they identified assets for further desktop analysis. Using tools like LiDAR data and aerial imagery, the team visualised regional asset vulnerability through detailed maps. 

“A key benefit of the project was upskilling people who work with our assets to create the analysis needed for the report, which builds a foundation for future climate risk analysis,” says Powerco Sustainability Engineer Elizabeth Shires. 

Delivering actionable insights 

The outcomes of this regional-wide geospatial hazard analysis are documented in Powerco’s Climate Adaptation & Resilience Plan and Climate-related Disclosure Report. These documents provide a snapshot of the percentage of assets exposed and vulnerable to climate risks and outline strategies to proactively identify, mitigate, and adapt to those risks.   
 
“Sharing an understanding of those risks, and the approach to planning and responding, is an important part of working with communities on adaptation and resilience strategies,” says Kewen Kueh.  

What’s next?

Powerco's proactive approach to climate resilience, leveraging FME and advanced geospatial analysis demonstrates its commitment to safeguarding its extensive network of assets. By automating the assessment process, Powerco can efficiently identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, ensuring reliable and sustainable service for its customers.  

As climate challenges continue to evolve, Powerco's strategies and adherence to emerging standards set a benchmark for the industry.