Dr Greg Trainor speaks with Nigel Barry, Founder and CEO of Intelfuse, about the dramatic transformation of vegetation management from gut instinct to precision data science. With over 30 years in the industry, Nigel shares how his experience witnessing the devastating Ash Wednesday fires shaped his career mission to protect communities and infrastructure. This episode explores how LiDAR technology, digital twins, and AI are revolutionising how utilities manage the single largest cause of power outages. Nigel explains the "vegetation management equation" and why traditional methods had only 42% repeatability—meaning the same tree inspected by 10 people would yield the same result just four times. Learn how Intelfuse is achieving 99.9% repeatability and enabling utilities to know every tree on their network. The conversation covers Nigel's transformative experience with Florida Power & Light's 35 Mules innovation program, the future of robotic tree cutting, and why viewing trees as assets changes everything. Discover how digital inspection, automated compliance, and continuous drone monitoring are creating a complete "digital line of sight" that's changing utility operations, insurance negotiations, and wildfire prevention strategies across Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
Dr Greg Trainor speaks with Nigel Barry, Founder and CEO of Intelfuse, about the dramatic transformation of vegetation management from gut instinct to precision data science.
With over 30 years in the industry, Nigel shares how his experience witnessing the devastating Ash Wednesday fires shaped his career mission to protect communities and infrastructure.
This episode explores how LiDAR technology, digital twins, and AI are revolutionising how utilities manage the single largest cause of power outages. Nigel explains the "vegetation management equation" and why traditional methods had only 42% repeatability—meaning the same tree inspected by 10 people would yield the same result just four times. Learn how Intelfuse is achieving 99.9% repeatability and enabling utilities to know every tree on their network.
The conversation covers Nigel's transformative experience with Florida Power & Light's 35 Mules innovation program, the future of robotic tree cutting, and why viewing trees as assets changes everything. Discover how digital inspection, automated compliance, and continuous drone monitoring are creating a complete "digital line of sight" that's changing utility operations, insurance negotiations, and wildfire prevention strategies across Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
(02:00) From aspiring musician to energy industry leader via Ash Wednesday fires
(04:00) How the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires shaped a 30-year career mission
(06:00) Moving from hourly contracts to performance-based vegetation management
(09:00) Why vegetation management was a "black art" until recently
(11:00) How the 2003 US system blackout drove LiDAR adoption
(13:00) What is LiDAR and how it measures vegetation with 5cm accuracy
(16:00) Vegetation as the single largest cause of outages and highest OPEX item
(19:00) Learning from US wildfire experiences and insurance industry pressure
(21:00) The vegetation management equation: inventory × risk × resources
(24:00) Community dialogue and the challenge of two-way electron flow
(27:00) Digital twins: applying 60 attributes to every tree as an asset
(30:00) How digital proof is transforming utility insurance negotiations
(32:00) Why human inspection has only 42% repeatability versus 99.9% with technology
(36:00) Reimagining 100-year-old processes through University of Melbourne partnership
(39:00) Data quality as the foundation for AI and automation success
(41:00) Florida Power & Light's 35 Mules innovation program experience
(43:00) Future vision: drones with lasers, robotic cutting, and continuous monitoring
(46:00) Complete digital ecosystem: knowing every tree and every action taken