A day ahead of the southerly storm

Emma leads the line crews at a large power network company in Wellington, one of the windiest cities on earth. When a southerly storm hits, trees fall on lines and suburbs go dark. She hears the warning on the radio and calls crews in at midnight. By the time the trucks reach the hills of Karori, four thousand homes have been dark for hours. With xMap Flows, Emma built Sentinel. Every day at five, Sentinel reads every line and substation from the company’s asset list, checks the wind forecast at each one for the next two days, keeps the ones where the wind passes ninety kilometres an hour, puts the worst first, and warns the crew leads a day ahead. On Tuesday, Sentinel flags eleven feeders in Karori and above Petone, with wind of a hundred and ten by Wednesday night. Emma books her crews in daylight and parks a truck in each valley. When the storm hits, power is back within the hour. Emma no longer chases the storm. She waits for it, ready.

The story in words