Cost-Effective Avian Protection Plans Using Mobile Data Collection

Abstract

In 2002 and 2003, the Colorado Rural Electric Association (CREA) led the development of Avian Protection Plans (APPs) with Avian Risk Assessments (ARAs) for 21 cooperatives, two municipal utilities, and Public Service of Colorado. These "tailored" APPs leveraged shared and utilityspecific content to meet the specific needs of each utility, while remaining affordable to small providers. The documents offered guidance on avian management and mitigation to improve avian safety and system reliability, and made use of the best mapping and data collection tools of the day. In 2014, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) contracted EDM International, Inc (EDM) to develop tailored APPs on behalf of 19 member utilities. The UAMPS project used CartoPac Mobile software for field data collection. CartoPac incorporated EDM's project-specific user interface to calculate relative pole hazard in real time, based on key input variables described in the peerreviewed literature, CartoPac also captured pole locations and recorded structure-specific retrofit recommendations. The project achieved significant cost savings by sharing relevant document content, streamlining project management, field work efficiencies, and using the CartoPac platform for mobile data collection. The savings made the benefits of a comprehensive and innovative APP accessible even to small utilities, and provided utility-specific guidance for each operator. These 19 tailored APPs should improve system reliability and reduce violations of federal avian protections laws. The tailored APP approach, with mobile field data collection for the ARA, is a potential template for statewide or regional groups of rural electric cooperatives or other small electricity providers.