Electric Utilities Weak at Inspecting Power Lines?
For electric utilities, inspecting power lines is critical. The inspections serve many purposes, from safety to reliability, and they help optimize utility tree trimming activities and other vegetation control techniques to maximize the chance that wires will stay intact even during a massive storm. According to PennEnergy, many utilities do a poor job of inspecting power lines.
The Importance of Inspecting Power Lines
Regular power line inspections can help prevent outages by proactively identifying at-risk sections of the distribution system. For example, inspections will reveal lines that are surrounded by dead branches likely to fall at some point, and can identify lines that have corroded connections.
Other benefits include:
- Boost safety by reducing the risk of electrocution from fallen lines.
- Reduce O&M costs.
- Promote and/or communicate the inspections via press releases, videos for the website / social media / local news station submission, etc., to increase visibility of the utility doing a public service.
Ways to Inspect Power Lines
Most inspections currently take place on foot, which is highly inefficient due to its slow pace and propensity for error. And because every utility has a vast distribution network, utilizing on-foot inspections likely means that it is only possible to inspect each section of the system every 5 or more years.
Luckily, drones are emerging as an excellent way of inspecting power lines – both during blue sky days as well as in response to an emergency event. I, for one, definitely hope that drone technology will be adopted sooner rather than later (trust me, it will at some point).
Drone utilization should not only help reduce outages from occurring in the first place, but it should also accelerate the damage assessment process which should in theory reduce outage durations. And, it will make inspecting power lines a heck of a lot easier!
