Drones are transforming utility and energy operations, drivingsafety, efficiency, and greater access to data. From site selectionand environmental mitigation to surveying and identifying leaks evenunderground, drones are becoming anessential for utility and energycompanies that want to save time and money.Without drones, inspections are typically completed manually, using climbing, bucket trucks, long-range photography. Clearly, manual inspections involving climbing or using buckets introduce hazards that are avoided with drones. Ground-based data collection typically lacks the detail and flexibility that a drone can provide.Drones can also be used to inspect areas, structures or equipment that would otherwise be impossible for inspectors to reachlike the small spaces of an industrial chimney. With reduced inspection times, there is focus more on the information at hand and get a better picture of their operations. No need to spend a bunch of money, time, and days looking at something that can be done in a couple of hours with a drone. There is also a very high indirect savings by not having to shut down the flare stack, turbine, or powerline for the inspection.Perhaps most importantly, the use of a drone for energy infrastructures instead of a human will keep these people out of dangerous situations.
Use Cases
Powerlines inspection
Interactive visual simulations, like transmission line tower heights
Inspection of T&D lines for equipment wear, corrosion, leaning, sagging wires, broken insulators or stay wires
Substation equipment inspections
Pipelines inspection
Gas pipeline inspections and leak detection
Vegetation management inspections for water pipeline rights-of-way
Inspection of underwater intake pipes
Dam inspection
Reservoir monitoring, including water level trends related to climate change.
Hydroelectric dam inspections, including fish ladders on older dam systems.
Aqueduct and canal inspections.
Solar panels inspection
Pinpointing malfunctioning solar panels
Mapping ideal orientation of solar panels to maximize energy output.