Infrastructure asset management: the case of overhead lines

Strategic assets such as electricity transmission grids must be operated in a safe, predictable and reliable manner. Therefore, best practices are needed for the operation and maintenance of transmission networks. This paper proposes an Asset Health Index (AHI) for Overhead Transmission Lines (OHTL) based on a condition-based method, and discusses some other monitoring methods (e.g., robot LineVue with non-destructive in-situ inspection technology for conductors and an online integral approach to ensure tower and conductor integrity - OTLM device and strain gauges). A case study is used to present the implementation of asset management techniques for OHTL. In addition, various issues, and challenges in managing linear assets are discussed.