Energy & Utilities Drones

Drones can be used to help maintain a safe and secure environment. They can provide early information such as leak detection, assist in perimeter security, and provide thermal imagery enabling the monitoring of sensitive equipment.

Drones can cover a solar panel field quickly and efficiently, supplying live images that could highlight damaged solar panels, locate broken cables and debris that will reduce the efficiency of a panel. This will help to reduce labor and time in having to physically walk from panel to panel in a large solar complex.

Drones can be used to monitor, survey, and improve on-site safety. The data captured can be used as an inventory management system to check against production versus what material has been shipped out. Blasting staff can use the data gathered to monitor quarry faces and extraction volumes.

Costs can be saved by reducing the need to climb a tower, or hire cranes to position staff for visual inspections. A drone can be used to survey a tower safely providing a thorough and detailed inspection that may highlight any damage. This pre-work inspection allows a crew to determine what equipment they need to use for maintenance or repairs.

The overall size and scale of an energy site can be huge, especially with power lines and pipelines. Typically, the environment is not easily accessible to vehicles. Multiple drones can be operated in place of a helicopter; and are easier to deploy reducing the risk to personnel. A drone can be quickly deployed to locate powerline issues such as tree damage or flooding. This reduces customer downtime and speeds up the ability to find a fault.

Drones can provide very detailed and accurate imagery of a turbine. These images can be used to investigate structural damage that may be on the tower or the turbine offering views that only a helicopter would be able to provide. Thermal images could be used to indicate a potential failure. As part of a regular maintenance inspection, mechanical failure and downtime can be reduced or even prevented.