ABOITIZPOWER has intensified its adoption of technology to better serve its clients and respond to power outages faster, especially in times of natural disasters.

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, the listed company inked an agreement with Schneider Electric to enhance its current geographical information systems (GIS) by integrating the latter’s ArcFM Solution XI Series, the latest lineup of GIS innovation.

GIS is a location-based system that creates, manages, analyzes and maps data. It connects the collected data to a map, integrating location data with descriptive information, ultimately providing a foundation for mapping and analysis that is used across industries.

“GIS solutions have been a key investment in improving the way AboitizPower operates,” said Anton Mari Perdices, senior vice president and chief operations officer of the Aboitiz Power Distribution Group.

By incorporating Schneider Electric’s ArcFM Solution XI technology into AboitizPower’s system, Perdices said, the company will be able to “operate more efficiently across all its locations, deploy faster in new areas, and improve time to recover in outages especially during calamities.“

“We will have an accurate view of our network,” said Perdices. This includes location of transformers, poles and distribution meters, among others, allowing the company to better handle restoration concerns by just looking at the GIS interface.

“This is a big help. We can get up-to-date and real-time view of our assets that we monitor and control,” he said.

Perdices noted that the company invested a significant capex for this new technology investment.

Schneider Electric’s GIS System of Design Solution Suite called ArcFM is a comprehensive enterprise digital mapping solution that provides a map-centric, intuitive way to model, design, maintain, and manage facility and land-based information.

It is used by utilities to digitally transform the life cycle of assets and recreate a digital twin of the distribution networks using ESRI’s ArcGIS technology.

Visayan Electric is the pilot distribution utility (DU) to implement the improved GIS technology whose integration will be completed in 18 months to be followed by Davao Light and the rest of AbotizPower’s DUs.

“Through this partnership with AboitizPower, we hope to help users understand patterns, relationships and geographic context, thus improving communication, efficiency, systems management and decision making--while remaining sustainable,” said Ireen Catane, Schneider Electric country president.

She added that moving forward, the company is aiming to extend its digitization initiatives to other industries through strategic collaborations with utility and telecommunications organizations.