The programme

What would change if utilities opened their data? Today most guard it closely; even the position of overhead and underground lines is rarely shared. Prof. Dr. Kathrin Goldammer of the Reiner Lemoine Institut argues that electricity, heat, transport and industry must couple, and that making this work depends not on more lines but on an intelligent, transparent grid, with digitalisation as its precondition. Open data is one missing layer: it brings the public on board and unlocks new services and innovation. Realising it also means reforming regulation, market design and institutions, since the real constraint is institutional, not technological. She sketches scenarios for the holistic system we could build, connecting energy, people and the environment, before a short interview.

Preparing the network for wildfire, storms, and flood, and making fast, confident calls when an event hits. Panellists compare how they harden the network ahead of the season, what the decision process actually looks like under live pressure, and what they would do differently after their last serious event.

Bring the VM problem you have not cracked yet. This is a hands-on working session. In small groups of three, one person puts a real, current challenge on the table while the other two act as their consultants: asking sharp questions, comparing what worked for them, and offering concrete ideas. Then you rotate, so everyone gets the group focused on their own problem. We run two or three rounds, lightly facilitated and grouped by topic so the input stays relevant. You leave with specific next steps for your own challenge, and you will have helped a few peers with theirs. Honest advice from people who run the same programmes, on the questions that are hard to ask anywhere else.

Ecological corridor management (ECM) is most often justified on biodiversity grounds. In addition to the diverse biological and operational topics, this session also examines the important financial aspects of introducing and implementing ECM, as these are of great relevance to grid operators today. Drawing on E.ON / Westnetz's experience scaling ECM across one of Europe's largest distribution networks, Michael Wahl presents the realistic numbers and the underlying financial mechanics: what an ECM programme costs to establish and to operate, how those costs develop over the maintenance lifecycle, and how they affect outages, wildfire risk, and vegetation-management cost per kilometre. The aim is practical: to provide the figures and the reasoning needed to build a credible business case for ECM and to secure internal approval on a given network. The biodiversity benefits are well documented and are treated here as a secondary consideration.

A view from North America: how AEP, one of the largest utilities in the United States, brought satellite-based vegetation management into its operations at scale. Nick Ferguson outlines the goals behind the programme, how it was rolled out across a large and varied network, and what utilities in Europe can take from the experience.

Across Europe, Member States are writing their National Restoration Plans, setting out where restoration will happen and how it will be financed. For utilities, this is a rare window: EU and national programmes can co-fund right-of-way management and the planning and design of new ecological corridors, and rights-of-way, as managed and connected landscapes, can be strong candidates for restoration planning. Monika Božíková (Grants and Innovation, Západoslovenská distribučná) walks through the funding routes open to grid operators and shares her experience of what to keep in mind when pursuing them. Her colleague Katarína Varcholová (Východoslovenská distribučná, a.s.) then presents a real project. Drawing on experience with the control of invasive black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), she shares the first results from testing different management methods and explores which approaches can provide an effective and sustainable solution while maintaining operational safety and network resilience. She also looks beyond existing infrastructure, showing how ecological corridor principles can be embedded in the planning, permitting and design of new power lines from the earliest stages of project development.

A closing look at the forces reshaping vegetation management over the next ten years: analytics and AI moving into the decision loop, a changing climate, a stretched and ageing workforce, and the load electrification is adding to the network. Panellists set out what they are planning for, and where they still have no good answer.