AI for Power & Energy — Substation Hotspots, Solar Soiling, Wind Blade Defects, Arc-Flash PPE

Challenges

Six fronts where thermal faults, asset defects, vegetation, dust and intrusions slip past on a live power & energy site, and why CCTV watched by people alone cannot keep up with the grid.

A · Thermal & equipment faults

Thermal

Missed transformer hotspots

Insulator

Insulator cracks & flashovers

Switchgear A medium-voltage switchgear panel with discolored cable termination lugs

Switchgear contact wear

B · Grid & corridor threats

Vegetation A tree branch arching over a 110 kV transmission line in a desert corridor

Vegetation encroachment

Corrosion

Heavy rust scaling at the base of a lattice transmission tower near ground level

Tower & steelwork corrosion

Wildlife

A large bird nest built on a transmission tower cross-arm between insulator strings

Bird nests on towers

C · Solar & wind asset drift

Soiling

PV soiling & dust loss

Module

Cell cracks & hotspots

Blade

Wind blade cracks & erosion

D · Arc-flash & people

Arc flash

Unprotected switching on live gear

PPE

A worker standing in front of a battery rack wearing plain clothes, no arc-rated suit

Missing arc-flash PPE

Confined

A lone worker climbing down into an underground cable vault without a buddy

Lone work in vaults & yards

E · Perimeter & monitoring gap

Intrusion

A figure climbing over a chain-link fence into a substation yard at night

Substation perimeter breach

Coverage

A control-room operator alone in front of dozens of CCTV feeds from substations, solar fields and yards

Too many sites, too few eyes

Night

Night, fog & blind spots

Solutions

Every gap above has an answer below: how the AI sees thermal and visual faults, what it detects across substations, lines, solar and wind, how alerts become action, the analytics your control room gets, and a deployment that fits your existing cameras and Saudi data rules.

A · How the AI sees

Detection

Workers on a site each outlined by a translucent segmentation mask following their silhouette

Instance segmentation, not boxes

Pose

Pose & action recognition

PPE

A worker with the helmet and vest highlighted by separate segmentation masks for PPE detection

Per-worker PPE check

B · What it detects

A thermal view of a substation transformer with a glowing hotspot segmented by AI

Thermal & Asset Defects

A drone image of a solar farm with a single soiled module and a hotspot segmented by AI

Solar, Wind & Corridor

A worker at a live panel with an arc-flash PPE overlay, compliance monitoring

Arc-Flash PPE & People

C · From alert to action

Real-time

A site supervisor receiving a safety alert on a smartphone

Tiered, real-time alerts

Verified

Operators in a modern safety control room verifying alerts on a video wall

Operator-verified

Intervene

A public-address speaker on a pole at a site for live talk-down warnings

On-site intervention

D · See it & prove it

Dashboard

Live grid operations dashboard

Analytics

A screen showing a substation and solar farm map with colour-coded risk heat zones

Trends & heat maps

Reporting

A tablet showing KPI gauges and charts for a power & energy compliance report

Audit-ready reports

E · Fits your grid

Integration An existing CCTV camera on a substation building with a small edge-AI box beside it

Works on existing cameras

Edge

Edge, hybrid or cloud

Residency

A secure on-premises server rack at a substation keeping data inside the Kingdom

KSA data residency

AI Technology

Our solution is built on data-driven video analytics, computer vision that watches live feeds and understands what it sees. The same AI runs across any input you bring: your existing fixed, PTZ and thermal CCTV, drones patrolling corridors and solar fields, autonomous robot dogs walking switchyards, and smart helmets, all connected into one platform and one app, and processed on-site inside the Kingdom. We keep the engine proprietary; what follows is how it works for your grid.

Any input, one platform

AI Video Analytics

The brain behind every source, computer vision analyses each frame in real time and flags thermal faults, defects, vegetation, soiling, blade damage and arc-flash gaps the moment they appear.

Existing fixed, PTZ and thermal CCTV cameras on a substation building

Your Existing CCTV

Runs on the cameras you already have, fixed, PTZ and thermal, with no rip-and-replace in most substations, yards and control rooms.

A survey drone flying over a transmission corridor and a solar field

Drones & Aerial

Drones carry the same AI across transmission corridors, solar fields and wind farms, inspecting insulators, panels and blades from above.

An autonomous quadruped robot dog walking a substation switchyard at night

Autonomous Robot Dog

A four-legged robot walks switchyards and remote yards on its own, taking the AI where fixed cameras cannot reach, day and night.

Smart Safety Helmet

Worker-worn helmets with an on-board camera add a first-person view, lone-worker protection and arc-flash PPE checks to the same system.

On-Site Edge AI

All analysis runs on a secure unit at your site, so thermal imagery, drone video and alerts stay inside the Kingdom, in line with PDPL.

A unified app on a phone showing every connected substation, solar field and device

One Unified App, everything connected

Every fixed, PTZ and thermal camera, drone, robot and helmet feeds a single platform and one app, one place to watch the whole grid, verify alerts and dispatch. Add a new substation, solar field or wind turbine and it simply appears in the same view.

Integration with Your Systems

We adapt to your grid, you don't rebuild for us. The AI runs on the fixed, PTZ and thermal cameras, drone feeds and monitoring systems you already have at substations, solar fields and wind farms: a small on-site unit pulls the video, your cameras and VMS keep running untouched, and in most sites nothing is replaced.

Works with what you have

A mix of existing fixed, PTZ and thermal cameras on a substation and switchyard

No rip-and-replace

In 70–80% of sites your existing fixed, PTZ and thermal cameras are reused as they are. We connect over standard RTSP / ONVIF, compatible with virtually any IP camera and thermal imager.

A small edge-AI appliance plugged in beside an existing network switch in a substation

Plugs in alongside

A small on-site sidecar unit pulls the camera and drone streams. Your existing cameras and SCADA-connected VMS keep running exactly as they do today, no disruption to operations.

A technician surveying a substation camera with a tablet before deployment

Survey before spend

A pre-deployment survey (included) checks each asset's resolution, angle, thermal range and lighting across substations, solar fields and wind farms, so you know exactly what qualifies before buying anything.

Connects to your monitoring systems

Milestone XProtect Genetec Security Center Hikvision / HikCentral Dahua DSS Axis Camera Station

We integrate with the leading VMS platforms used in the Kingdom, pushing events and alerts straight into the system your control room already uses. Not on the list? The edge unit also runs fully standalone over direct RTSP, no VMS required.

Camera requirements

Parameter	Minimum	Recommended
Resolution	2 MP (1080p)	4 MP or higher
Frame rate	10 fps	15–25 fps
Low light	IR / night capable	True WDR
Detail on target	head ≥ 20 px	≥ 40 px for PPE
Compression	H.264	H.265 (½ the bandwidth)

Network & footprint

Light on bandwidth, a few Mbps per 1080p camera; H.265 halves it.
Only alerts leave the edge, short event clips and metadata, never full 24/7 video.
Processed on-site, a site VPN or private APN covers remote locations; data stays in the Kingdom.
No new software for your team, the dashboard is browser-based; nothing to install.

Use Cases

The same AI runs across every power & energy site — substations, transmission corridors, solar farms, wind fields and switchgear rooms. Every thermal hotspot, insulator defect, vegetation encroachment, panel soiling, blade damage, arc-flash PPE gap and perimeter breach is flagged on your existing cameras and drones with a pixel-precise segmentation mask, never a crude box.

Substation Thermal Hotspots

AI segmentation mask on a transformer tank hotspot glowing through a thermal overlay — Transformer Hotspot

AI segmentation mask on an overheating HV bushing porcelain — Bushing Overheat

AI segmentation mask on a hot joint at a cable termination — Cable Termination Hot Joint

AI segmentation mask on a switchgear contact overheating — Switchgear Hot Contact

AI segmentation mask on a load tap changer thermal anomaly — OLTC Hot Spot

AI segmentation mask on a current transformer thermal anomaly — CT/PT Thermal Drift

Insulator & Transformer Defects

AI segmentation mask on a cracked insulator disc on a transmission string — Cracked Insulator

AI segmentation mask on a flashover burn mark on a porcelain insulator — Flashover Burn

AI segmentation mask on a broken insulator cap end-fitting — Broken Insulator Cap

AI segmentation mask on a heavily contaminated insulator surface — Insulator Contamination

AI segmentation mask on an oil leak staining a transformer tank — Transformer Oil Leak

AI segmentation mask on an activated Buchholz relay indicator — Buchholz Alarm

Transmission Lines & Vegetation

AI segmentation mask on tree branches encroaching on a power conductor — Tree Encroachment

AI segmentation mask on a bird nest sitting on a transmission tower cross-arm — Bird Nest on Tower

AI segmentation mask on a sagging conductor span between two towers — Excessive Conductor Sag

AI segmentation mask on a damaged Stockbridge vibration damper — Damaged Vibration Damper

AI segmentation mask on tower base corrosion at ground level — Tower Base Corrosion

AI segmentation mask on a kite or plastic sheet caught on a power line — Foreign Object on Line

Solar Panel Defects

AI segmentation mask on a thick dust layer on a PV module — Heavy Soiling

AI segmentation mask on a hot cell microcrack glowing on a thermal PV scan — Cell Microcrack Hotspot

AI segmentation mask on a single-module hotspot from a failed bypass diode — Bypass-Diode Hotspot

AI segmentation mask on brown snail-trail discoloration across a solar module — Snail Trails

AI segmentation mask on a cracked junction box at the back of a PV panel — Broken Junction Box

AI segmentation mask on bird droppings shading a row of PV modules — Bird Droppings on Array

Wind Turbine Blade Defects

AI segmentation mask on leading-edge erosion roughness along a turbine blade — Leading-Edge Erosion

AI segmentation mask on a lightning-strike crack on a wind blade surface — Lightning-Strike Crack

AI segmentation mask on ice build-up along the leading edge of a turbine blade — Blade Ice Build-up

AI segmentation mask on a missing or damaged wind blade tip — Damaged Blade Tip

AI segmentation mask on gel-coat paint loss and flaking on a turbine blade — Surface Paint Loss

AI segmentation mask on a horizontal crack along a wind blade trailing edge — Trailing-Edge Crack

Arc-Flash PPE & Perimeter Security

AI segmentation flagging a worker at a live panel with no arc-flash suit — No Arc-Flash Suit

AI segmentation flagging a worker at a switchgear with no arc-rated face shield — No Arc-Rated Face Shield

AI segmentation flagging a worker at a panel with no class-2 insulated gloves — No Insulated Gloves

AI segmentation mask on a person breaching a substation perimeter fence — Perimeter Breach

AI segmentation mask on an unauthorized vehicle stopped at a substation gate — Unauthorized Vehicle

AI segmentation mask on a worker climbing a restricted transmission tower — Tower Climbing Violation

Not limited to these These are our standard power & energy library, we also train custom detection classes for the assets, sites and processes specific to your grid.

How We Do It

01

Existing fixed, PTZ and thermal cameras on a substation pole overlooking the switchyard

Ingest

We pull live video and thermal feeds from your existing cameras and drones over RTSP and ONVIF, no new cameras in most sites

02

A compact edge GPU appliance processing thermal and visual video on site

Edge AI

Inference runs on a small on-site GPU appliance, so thermal imagery, drone video and alerts stay inside the Kingdom

03

A monitor showing a substation segmented by AI masks, flagging a hotspot and a worker

Detect

A three-stage cascade segments thermal faults, assets, vegetation, panels, blades and people on every frame, across a broad library of categories

04

A control-room screen showing an AI reasoning check on a flagged insulator defect

Validate

A vision-language model reasons over context to confirm or suppress each alert, killing false alarms on insulators, panels and blades

05

Alert

Tiered alerts reach the control room, on-call engineers' phones and WhatsApp within seconds

06

Confirm

For non-critical events an operator confirms with a thermal clip and scene description before any field team is dispatched

07

Dashboard

Every camera, drone, substation, solar field and wind turbine appears on one dashboard, on a control-room screen or a phone

08

An automatically generated grid asset report with charts and an audit trail

Report & audit

Shift and daily reports, asset KPIs and an immutable audit trail are generated automatically, aligned to PDPL and Vision 2030 reporting

The Monitoring Platform

One console for the grid operations team. Overview, events, cameras, assets, zones, reports and live AI inspection, all in a single app. Every alert traces back to the camera that raised it, the asset or zone it sits in, the moment it happened, and the confidence the AI gave it. Live today at viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse.

Grid app overview: asset health, fault breakdown, hottest zones and 3D substation map

Grid Monitoring · Overview

Live AI detection: thermal hotspots, insulator defects, panel soiling, blade damage, arc-flash PPE, perimeter breaches
your PTZ, fixed and thermal cameras plus drone feeds on one live wall
Per-asset health and link status across substations, solar and wind
Operator verify, dispatch, and false-alarm workflow
Owner-ready daily, monthly, and incident-evidence reports
Runs in the on-site control room, no foreign cloud

Platform Walkthrough — Page by Page

07 · A

Seven pages, live in our grid app today. The images below come straight from the running build. These are the same screens your operations team will open on day one.

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse

01 · Overview

The whole site, one screen

The safety landing page. A live safety score, PPE compliance, open violations and critical incidents run across the top, next to cameras online and mean response time. Below sits a 24-hour hazard breakdown, the hottest zones ranked, and a 3D safety-zones map of the site.

Safety ScoreHazard BreakdownHottest Zones3D Zones Map

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/events

02 · Events

Every violation, triaged

The working queue of HSE events. Each one tagged by type, with the camera and zone that caught it, a severity, a confidence score and a status. An officer verifies, assigns or closes, and the response clock keeps the team honest.

24 Event TypesSeverity RoutingEvidence SnapshotResponse Clock

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/cameras

03 · Cameras

The fleet, at a glance

Every connected camera by site and zone, with live thumbnails, online status and the detections it raised. A technician sees what needs attention before the morning round.

Live ThumbnailsPer-ZoneOnline StatusLast Event

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/workers

04 · Workers

KSA workforce rules, watched

Workforce safety built for the Kingdom: heat-stress risk levels, the summer midday-work ban window, PPE compliance per crew, and lone-worker flags, so the rules MHRSD audits are kept automatically.

Heat StressMidday BanCrew PPELone Worker

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/zones

05 · Zones

Danger zones, drawn and enforced

Safety zones drawn on the site plan and the 3D model: crane radii, excavations, restricted areas. Each zone carries its own rules, and any intrusion shows up in Events with the zone attached.

Zone Rules3D ModelCrane RadiiIntrusion Link

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/reports

06 · Reports

Ready for the audit

Shift and daily summaries, PPE compliance exports and incident evidence packs, generated automatically and exportable for ISO 45001 reviews. One click, and the record is in your inbox.

Shift SummaryPPE ExportEvidence PackISO 45001

viewkeepersa.com/VisualDefectDemo/hse/inspect

07 · Inspect

Point the AI at anything

A live AI scan page: drop in footage or pick a camera, and the engine outlines people, PPE and hazards on the spot. The fastest way to see the detection quality on your own scenes.

Live ScanAny FootageInstant MasksYour Scenes