Innovative Technology for Power Grid Inspection

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The combination of UAVs, machine learning, and automated image processing technologies can help electric utilities inspect power installations and make informed decisions. A new research which is underway is designed to investigate and evaluate automated inspection and image processing capabilities using drones.

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is collaborating with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in this project which will field-test new technologies with the goal of making transmission system inspections safer, faster and more efficient while providing greater detail than current techniques.

NYPA owns and operates approximately one‑third of New York’s high‑voltage power lines.

“By leveraging drone technology, NYPA believes that we can automate inspections of our transmission towers to be safer, faster and more efficient than our current inspection methods, while providing better image resolution and data‑gathering capabilities,” said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA CEO and president.

NYPA technicians would be able to place a drone at the base of a transmission tower and start an inspection with a push of a button. The drone will follow a routine, gathering information on the structure and key components. Once a tower inspection is complete, the drone will return to its launch position, and can then be placed at the base of the next tower to repeat the process, according to power-eng.com.

To further automate the process, software is being investigated to analyze the thousands of images gathered during each inspection.

Machine learning processes will be used to generate criteria for identifying potential issues, like broken or cracked insulators, ice buildup on a tower, or structural degradation. That will help reduce the amount of content that NYPA inspection teams need to review to determine the appropriate course of action.

The UAV inspection and image processing automation project, part of NYPA’s Asset Management and Smart Generation and Transmission strategies, kicked off in early 2018 and will be completed by the end of the year.

The insights gained as part of the project will allow NYPA to better monitor and maintain the New York State transmission system as it works to become the nation’s first end‑to‑end digital utility.