IN Brief:
- Iberdrola has selected Iceye to provide satellite-based monitoring for extreme-weather response.
- The system will use synthetic aperture radar data for rapid assessment of grid risks and asset impacts.
- The project reflects a wider shift toward digital, climate-resilient electricity network operation.
Iberdrola is adding satellite intelligence to its electricity network resilience planning through a project with Finnish satellite operator Iceye.
The programme will use synthetic aperture radar data to support anticipation and assessment of extreme weather events, including floods, fires, and strong winds. Damage maps can be made available within 24 hours of an event, giving network teams a stronger operational view of affected assets, restricted access routes, and priority areas for restoration work.
Iceye’s synthetic aperture radar satellites can observe through cloud, smoke, and darkness, giving the technology advantages over conventional optical imagery during difficult weather conditions. That capability is valuable for electricity networks exposed to storms, flooding, wildfire risk, and other disruption where field access can be slow or unsafe.
The project was selected through Iberdrola’s Perseo open innovation programme and will initially focus on selected areas, with access also available for extreme weather events affecting Iberdrola assets in markets including the United States and Australia. The wider aim is to improve situational awareness before, during, and after disruptive events.
As electricity networks become more exposed to climate volatility, resilience planning is moving beyond traditional asset inspection and historical fault data. Operators still need robust poles, towers, cables, substations, transformers, and protection systems, but they also need real-time or near-real-time information about the conditions around those assets. Satellite intelligence can help close that visibility gap when events are unfolding across wide areas.
Grid digitalisation is now moving into the operational response layer of the sector. The acquisition of Camlin Group by Siemens Energy showed the same direction from another part of the market, with asset monitoring, diagnostics, and intelligence increasingly built into grid modernisation strategies. Satellite monitoring applies that logic across a wider geographical field of view.
For network operators, the central challenge is turning data into action quickly enough to affect restoration decisions. A flood boundary or fire map has limited value if it remains isolated from outage management, control-room processes, crew dispatch, switching plans, customer communications, and spares logistics. The engineering and operational task is to integrate external data into the systems that manage live electricity networks.
That integration will become more important as electricity dependence deepens. Transport, heating, industry, communications, and digital infrastructure are becoming more reliant on continuous power supply. Outages that once affected lighting and appliances now have wider consequences for mobility, heat, connectivity, and commercial activity, increasing the value of faster fault assessment and restoration planning.
The use of satellite radar also changes how climate risk is assessed across network estates. Static flood maps, vegetation records, and asset-condition databases remain useful, but they are increasingly being supplemented by live observations and predictive tools. Where operators can see how an event is developing, they can stage crews, protect substations, manage switching, and prioritise repair activity with more precision.
Satellite data will not replace reinforcement, vegetation management, undergrounding, substation flood protection, or conventional inspections. Its value lies in improving the speed and quality of operational decisions when network assets are under stress. A more resilient grid will need both stronger physical infrastructure and better information about the environment in which that infrastructure operates.
Iberdrola’s work with Iceye places space-derived data inside a practical network-resilience function. As extreme weather becomes more frequent and more costly, electricity companies are increasingly likely to combine field engineering, automation, forecasting, and remote sensing into a single operational model for protecting supply.
