DistribuTECH2016: Dramatically cutting utility costs with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying beyond visual line of sight

If you would ask me among all the new technologies on display here and at other events which will likely dramatically reduce the bottom line of utilities in the transmission business I would say unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones.  For example, every utility which has transmission lines spends large sums on overflying, typically with very expensive helicopter flights, transmission lines for vegetation management to monitor the trees to prevent them from interfering with transmissions lines.  If instead this could be done with much less expensive UAV flights, the savings would be huge. But right now this is not possible, because commercial operation of UAVs is only allowed by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) with visual line of sight (VLOS) rules.

 

The potential ROI of using UAVs for vegetation monitoring are expected to be sizable, but this requires the FAA to change regulations to permit operating of UAVs with beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rules.  Today at DistribuTECH2016 Eileen Lockhart of Xcel Energy with partners Environmental Consultants Inc and Flot Systems gave a presentation that showed just how close we are to UAVs operating under BVLOS rules becoming a commercial reality for electric power utilities.

 

Xcel Energy, which has electric and gas assets in eight states, is the fourth largest utility in the U.S.  They have partnered with EEI, EPRI, INL and others in the utility sector to show the way in the application of UAVs in the utility sector.   This includes working with the FAA to push forward the practical application of UAVs in the utility sector.  Their objectives are improved safety for utility employees and the public, reducing risk to and improving reliability of the grid, and reducing the cost of operating and maintaining grid infrastructure.  The technologies involved include GIS and geospatial analytics in addition to the UAVs themselves.  Expected sources of major savings are reducing the need for expensive helicopters and plane flights and the time utility employees have to spend in the field.

 

Xcel launched their UAV Proof of Concept project in 2015 with seven UAV missions in transmission, gas operations, energy supply, and electricty distribution.

• Transmission line and tower inspections
• Substation facility rating data collection
• Pipeline bridge and river crossings inspections
• High pressure pipeline inspections
• Coal/ash storage inventory (volumetric)
• Wind turbine blade inspections
• Storm damage assessment

Just last week (Feb 3, 2016) Xcel with its partners completed the first beyond visual line of sight mission with UAV flights over 20 miles of transmission lines.  They are convinced that BVLOS flights will become a commercial reality in the near future.   The UAV flights will not  be flown by Xcel itself but by contractors such as Flot Systems operating with FAA licences.  Xcel has not yet calculated ROIs for the applications using UAVs, but plan to do so soon.