Everything is fine until it’s not. Regular inspection of power lines is one of the first mandates of an energy company - a task that is already benefiting from drone technology and is easy to carry out over smooth terrains and in mild weather conditions.
But often, hurricanes and floods can devastate entire areas, making them inaccessible and dangerous for employees tasked with tower inspections and complex repair work.
Therefore Ukrainian drone enterprise DroneUA teamed up with Sherp all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in a pilot project for DTEK, to solve one of the most challenging issues faced by their clients in the energy sector.
Accessing high-risk power lines while minimising danger
The idea of combining ATVs and drones comes from an existing need to create an alternative to helicopters. This traditional approach brings about a series of issues in terms of manpower, costs, resources, and long waiting times.
The launch of the weatherproof DJI Matrice 300 RTK was a turning point for the DroneUA team, which saw it as an opportunity to provide their energy customers with the right solution to minimise danger for humans and operate in harsh weather conditions. Yet, even with the help of a Matrice 300 RTK, there are significant risks and challenges that drone technology alone cannot solve:
Drones and ATVs to collect data in hazardous areas
As part of the pilot project for DTEK, the Matrice 300 RTK was paired with a Sherp ATVs to allow for two specific missions for Ukraine’s largest private energy company:
The drone inspection was planned to run along 2 km of power lines in the hard-to-reach area of Boryspil, a wetland in the Kiev region. The all-terrain vehicle was able to move the teams across the area and served as a launching pad for the Matrice 300 RTK.
The mounted thermal imager helped the inspectors digitise sections of the network that were previously difficult to access and identify the overheating spots on the towers that could trigger an unexpected shutdown. The DroneUA team relied on both manual flights and automated missions from inside the ATVs to generate 3D models and orthophoto maps - an approach that raised the interest of more energy companies and that is pushing Sherp to develop an integrated ATVs-drone solution for larger UN projects.
Matrice 300 RTK’s key power line inspection features
Saving time and lives in high-risk power line inspections
As a result of the mission, the DTEK specialists received all the necessary data on the 2 km stretch in 1.5 hours instead of a typical 12-hour inspection with helicopters, considering the additional waiting time due to the unpredictable weather. The case study provided the teams with enough insights to scale the solution and implement it for the benefits of other energy companies and distribution assets with similar challenges, beyond their own region.
It is almost impossible to ignore the several benefits the mission produced for all those involved, and more importantly, for their energy client. But the ROI for this pilot project well exceeds numbers. In DroneUA’s words, it was the cooperation among all players engaged in a single task that made a difference -- which is sometimes more valuable than a standalone solution.