How LineVision is Boosting Transmission Grid Capacity Without New Power Lines

Hudson Gilmer is the co-founder and CEO of LineVision. 

LineVision is a Series C-stage startup helping utilities monitor and increase the capacity of the vast network of transmission lines that serve as the vascular system of the U.S. electric grid. The U.S. transmission grid spans 600,000 to 700,000 circuit miles of high-voltage lines, connecting energy generation with consumption and delivering power across the country. This infrastructure typically lasts for decades, yet much of it was built before the advent of sophisticated software-based monitoring or persistent connectivity.

LineVision provides a non-contact sensor and software system that detects issues with transmission lines and enables grid operators to safely increase their capacity—critical in an increasingly electrified world where grid constraints limit power delivery and building new transmission lines is a slow, multi-year process.

We explore all this and more in our conversation with Hudson.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:06] An overview of transmission as one of the backbones of infrastructure in the US
• [7:00] LineVision’s focus on high-voltage, long distance lines 
• [8:53] Hudon’s background and LineVision’s origin story
• [12:41] LineVision’s customers and who they work with
• [14:33] An overview of LineVision’s product 
• [19:31] How seasonality plays into transmission capacity 
• [22:53] The lifespan of typical transmission lines 
• [25:10] The future of transmission line monitoring 
• [28:11] LineVision’s funding to date 
• [31:05] How LineVision’s business could be applied in the future
• [33:30] How monitoring facilitated grid security
• [35:42] LineVision’s  new customers

Episode recorded on Jan 30, 2025 (Published on Feb 13, 2025)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant