Newfoundland Power receives 2023 Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award

July 13, 2023

Canadian electricity provider recognized for enhancing enterprise-wide operations using geospatial technology

SAN DIEGO, Calif., Esri User Conference—July 13, 2023—Esri Canada congratulates Newfoundland Power for being recognized with the Esri Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award. The electric utility was selected from thousands of Esri customers worldwide for their outstanding use of geographic information system (GIS) technology to solve real-world problems. Newfoundland Power began using GIS more than 10 years ago. Recognizing the value of mapping and location intelligence in enhancing its operations, the utility expanded its GIS footprint from a single desktop application to an enterprise GIS.

“Newfoundland Power’s strategy to implement GIS across their utility positions them well for the future,” said Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “They have established a strong foundation for utility operations and strengthened their resilience against emergencies, while enabling continuous improvement of their services.”

Esri’s flagship system, ArcGIS, supports Newfoundland Power’s essential operations including engineering, system planning, asset management, system operations, field services, customer service and human resources/business continuity planning. ArcGIS has become a mission-critical system that provides the utility the flexibility to quickly scale and deploy powerful location-based capabilities to staff across divisions when it is most needed.

For example, in fall 2021, Hurricane Larry severely impacted Newfoundland Power, leaving over 60,000 customers (approximately 20% of their customer base) without power. The utility’s enterprise GIS helped them to prepare, manage and respond to this significant weather event. On the day of the storm, their public-facing outage map, powered by ArcGIS Online, received a tremendous number of views from more than 230,000 visitors. The cloud-based GIS app automatically scaled to accommodate the spike in traffic without any disruption.

Key storm metrics were monitored and managed A dashboard titled “Crew Dispatching” with the Newfoundland Power logo at the top. At the centre is a black and grey map with coloured points showing the locations where crews have been dispatched. The left panel displays a map legend, while the right panel displays data on open and assigned cases. company-wide using ArcGIS Dashboards, which provided real-time updates on outages and crew dispatch. The dashboards supported the coordination of field work by 400 Newfoundland Power staff and contractors, who worked over several days to restore power in the hurricane’s aftermath. Because field work was coordinated efficiently, power was restored quickly to customers.

“Newfoundland Power is honoured to receive an Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award as the Company continues to advance operations through the use and integration of technologies,” said Julie Pearce, Manager Operations Support, Newfoundland Power.

A grey and white ArcGIS Survey123 form titled “Tailboard Conference Plan – Line Operations” with several fields requesting for job information Newfoundland Power has also improved worker safety using GIS. In 2022, the utility improved its tailboard safety briefing form to a web-based GIS form, accessible to all staff at any location. The digital form, built using ArcGIS Survey123, has raised Newfoundland Power’s safety audit completion and documentation rates from 60% to over 90%. This has increased the effectiveness of safety reporting, enhanced employee satisfaction and improved the utility’s capabilities for incident review and reporting. Crew foremen have gained the ability to add workers to safety briefs and share the information with staff directly through their mobile devices—eliminating the need for duplicate briefings when new crew members are added to a work site.

Newfoundland Power plans to further expand their GIS implementation to other areas of the business and support their network management modernization plans.

View the full list of SAG winners at esri.com/SAG
Learn more about ArcGIS technology at esri.ca/arcgis

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About Newfoundland Power
Newfoundland Power is the primary distributer of electricity on the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador. With a customer base of approximately 274,000 accounts, Newfoundland Power is committed to safety, dedicated to the highest level of customer service and delivers reliable electricity at the lowest possible cost. For more information on Newfoundland Power’s programs, services and community partnerships, please visit newfoundlandpower.com.

About Esri Canada
Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower people in business, government and education to make informed and timely decisions by leveraging the power of mapping and spatial analytics. These solutions enable organizations to better manage their resources, plan their future and collaborate within and beyond their organization. Esri Canada’s products and services help advance successful digital transformation. The company serves 12,000 organizations from 15 offices across Canada and is based in Toronto. In 2019, Esri Canada achieved Platinum Club status with the Canada's Best Managed Companies program by retaining its Best Managed designation for seven consecutive years or more. More information can be found at esri.ca. Follow Esri Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Newfoundland Power
Michele Coughlan, Manager, Public & Government Affairs
Phone: (709) 737-2821
mcoughlan@newfoundlandpower.com

Esri Canada
Joy Chan
Manager, Marketing Communications
press@esri.ca

A group of four men and one woman smiling. The woman is holding a glass award plaque.

From left: Paul Salah (Esri Canada), Travis Butt (Newfoundland Power), Jack Dangermond (Esri), Julie Pearce (Newfoundland Power), Alex Miller (Esri Canada)