Utilities & Infrastructure
Substation & Utility Site CCTV Analytics
Verify perimeter and equipment-zone entry at substations and remote utility sites before dispatching a field team, and see which remote cameras have gone offline and for how long.
Built for: Utility operations · Security · Substation and site managers · Operational technology (OT) engineering
Verify a remote event before dispatching the right team.
Distributed utility assets are hard to inspect quickly, and a boundary event may be routine maintenance, an animal or an unexplained entry. Remote video gives the operator the context to prioritise a response: what is visible at the equipment-zone entrance, whether a visit was planned and which team should go.
Utilities · Use cases
Use cases for substations and utility sites
Map each equipment zone and access area
Cameras sit under their utility site, control building and equipment zone, so an operator reviews an entry event at the place the field team knows.
Ask about an equipment-zone entrance
Ask Vision Copilot, “Find observations at the selected equipment-zone entrance this week,” to review that entrance for the period in question.
Find repeated entry outside planned windows
Ask, “Which covered sites show repeated access observations outside planned review windows?” to see which sites keep showing entry the visit schedule leaves unexplained.
Prepare the field-team briefing
Ask, “Summarise the observations for today's field-team briefing.” Suggestions such as reviewing the visit schedule or camera placement arrive with the observations behind them, and the field team lead decides.
Prioritise sites for field inspection
Scores out of 100 across covered utility locations show where access observations need a field inspection first, compared over consistent periods.
Utilities · Vision Copilot
Ask about your utility site in plain language
Type a question in everyday language and Vision Copilot searches the observations from your mapped cameras for that place and time.
Questions to try
- Summarise the observations for today's field-team briefing.Example answer shown
- Find observations at the selected equipment-zone entrance this week.
- Which covered sites show repeated access observations outside planned review windows?
Question
Summarise the observations for today's field-team briefing.
Location
Utility Site → Control Building → Operating Level → Equipment Zone → Access Area
Answer
Repeated entry observations appear around an equipment-zone access point. Suggested next step: review the visit schedule, boundary arrangement and camera placement before deciding on a field inspection.
Decision owner
Utility operations / field team lead
Utilities · Location map
Your utility site, mapped
Cameras are mapped to the selected equipment-zone entrance or access area so questions about the equipment-zone entrance start from recognisable operational context.
Site
Utility Site
Building
Control Building
Floor
Operating Level
Zone
Equipment Zone
Room
Access Area
Utilities · How it works
How OrionAlerts works for substations and utility sites
OrionAlerts maps each camera to a place, analyses its scenes over time, and sends alerts to the dashboard, mobile app and email for the team that owns that area.
- 01Map
- 02Observe
- 03Ask
- 04Prioritise
- 05Act
- 06Review
Utilities · Deployment
Preparing a utility site for a pilot
Review power and connectivity resilience, maintenance access and cyber and network boundaries with OT owners. Confirm how cameras behave during connectivity loss and that all equipment suits the installation.
- Mapped hierarchy for pilot utility sites and equipment zones
- Power and connectivity resilience plan for remote cameras
- Cyber and network boundary review with OT owners
- Confirmed behaviour during connectivity loss and equipment suitability checks
Utilities · Standards
Standards context for substations and utility sites
Central Electricity Authority (CEA) safety regulations set electrical-safety context for covered installations in India, and specialised hazardous sites may also need a separate hazardous-area equipment assessment. Camera evidence supports the operator's site review alongside the utility's own protection, permit and inspection systems.
CEA electrical safety regulations
CEA safety regulations provide electrical-safety context for covered installations and activities in India.
Official sourcePESO / IECEx / ATEX hazardous-area schemes
PESO, IECEx and ATEX are distinct hazardous-area equipment and installation schemes with different jurisdictional scopes.
Official source
Utilities · Pilot evaluation
What to measure in a utility site pilot
Compare reviewed alerts with what actually happened, including missed events and nuisance alerts, before you set a rollout target.
Verified perimeter-event usefulness
Confirmed relevant perimeter or access events divided by reviewed alerts for the defined sites, using an agreed review rubric.
Source of truth: Work schedules and control-room review records
Remote-view unavailable hours
Hours during agreed monitoring windows when a priority substation or site camera, or its recording, was unavailable.
Source of truth: Device and connectivity logs
Acknowledgement time for reviewed events
Time from an alert being delivered or available to its acknowledgement by the control room, for reviewed substation and remote-site events.
Source of truth: Control-room acknowledgement records
Utilities · Solutions
OrionAlerts solutions for substations and utility sites
Utilities · Questions
AI video analytics for substations and utility sites: common questions
How can utilities verify a substation intrusion remotely?
An entry alert at a perimeter or equipment-zone access point arrives with the site, camera and clip. The operator checks it against the visit schedule and boundary arrangement, then decides whether a field team is needed. Remote-view outage hours are tracked separately, so a lost feed shows up as a coverage gap.
Which utility site areas should cameras cover first?
Start with the gates, perimeter and equipment-zone entrances at remote sites where an unexplained entry would trigger a field visit. Map those cameras to the utility site, control building and equipment zone, agree who acknowledges each alert, and measure useful perimeter events and acknowledgement time during the pilot.
Can video show that equipment is de-energised?
No. Electrical isolation and de-energisation are confirmed through the approved procedures and instruments, with permits issued under the utility's own system. Video shows the visible scene around the equipment, such as activity at an equipment-zone entrance, which helps the operator decide whether a field team needs to attend.
Can camera events be linked to SCADA?
Only through a separate integration. Linking camera events to SCADA is scoped after its security and network boundaries have been assessed with your OT owners, and it is not assumed in the pilot. Until then, operators compare camera events with SCADA data using the site, equipment zone and time window.
Can analytics replace patrols?
No. It helps prioritise patrols and site visits in covered areas by showing where entry outside planned windows keeps recurring and which remote cameras have gone offline. Staffing and inspection requirements stay with an independent operational assessment, and any change to patrol schedules is decided by the utility, not the analytics.
Can we use our existing CCTV cameras?
Yes, in most cases: OrionAlerts connects to compatible IP cameras and recorders through ONVIF, RTSP and vendor SDKs, so working hardware can usually stay in place. A short assessment checks camera position, image quality and network access for each use case, and confirms compatibility model by model before the pilot starts.
Where is the video stored, and who can see it?
On site: video and AI inference stay on the on-site node, while Orion Cloud syncs alerts, health status and configuration metadata for central management. Role-based access means each user sees only the sites, cameras and functions in their scope, and retention is set per camera, zone or site to follow your own policy.
Utilities · Further reading
Further reading for utility site teams
Utilities · Related
Industries related to substations and utility sites
Ask Vision Copilot about your utility sites.
Verify remote entry events and see which substation cameras are online from one control room.
