EPB is using drones in innovative ways. They are now being used to make inspections of its infrastructure in places such as power lines that are high, in the substations and of vegetation in remote areas that are difficult or dangerous for workers to reach manually.
When unusual activity is observed on the power system, drones equipped with cameras and sensors can be sent and used for up-close inspections. They can send livestreams to the EPB command center. Enough information can be sent and analyzed to determine if a bucket truck needs to be dispatched for emergency maintenance if there is a power outage or to prevent one before it occurs.
EPB has recently acquired new drones to replace others that were several years old. The new ones are hybrid, which provides a power source that lasts longer than battery-powered drones and they can be used for tasks that require longer times. The new drones also have an optical zoom that is many times more powerful than the ones they have replaced, so details needed for operational use can be seen from a great distance.
Some of the specific functions that the devices have been used for includes doing thermal imaging of equipment in substations. And vegetation is being surveyed to find areas that have the potential for damaging the electric power lines so they can be cleared before there is a problem. They are being used to find problems caused by downed trees from storm damage in hard to see areas. And they have been used to monitor osprey nests to make sure they are empty before the site of a nest is disturbed.
Drones are also being used to inspect and make images of sites for the new battery installations EPB has started constructing for supplemental power sources. And they were used to monitor the large equipment being transported up the steep curvy road leading to the new EPB substation on Aetna Mountain.
EPB President Ryan Keel made the presentation to the board of directors to show the many ways and how much the drones are being used now and he said that they could be used even more. “They get to places that we couldn’t otherwise get to,” he noted.