This episode includes a short round up from the Trees and Utilities conference in Minneapolis followed by an in-depth interview with our first Australian guest, Heath Frewin, Manager Strategy - Vegetation at Essential Energy. Essential Energy is one of Australia’s largest networks delivering electricity to a staggering 95% of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, including some 865,000 homes and businesses. The service territory is a whopping 737,000 square kilometers, from the Wadbilliga National Park in the south of the state to the Gold Coast in Queensland to the north, an area larger than Texas. Essential Energy is state-owned, and is responsible for over 180,000 km (or 112,000 miles) of sub-transmission and distribution lines. Heath is a forester by background and has held several senior roles advancing asset management and vegetation strategy. As we all know, Australia is dealing with many of the same challenges that we are dealing with here in North America, including drought conditions and heightened wildfire threat. This episode covers several topics including:
This is the first Australian interview published by The UVM Podcast. If you have any feedback on the episode or suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes, please feel free to get in contact at podcast@utilityvegetationmanagement.com.
Heath can be found on LinkedIN here.
CEUs available here