Jiyuan power grid embraces drones for efficient inspections and maintenance

Jiyuan, a county-level city of Central China's Henan province, has widely utilized drones to inspect and improve the local power grid, as part of its efforts to ensure a stable power supply.

When a power grid fault occurs, the drones will receive instructions and promptly fly to the problem area.

Making use of high-end artificial intelligence technologies, the drones are able to accurately identify the problem, capture images, and assign tasks to the maintenance personnel accordingly.

Meanwhile, the drones could help collect the images and coordinates of the local utility poles, thereby further enriching databases and creating an accurate grid map.

Zhou Bocheng, a staff member of the State Grid's Jiyuan Power Supply Co, said that 88 percent of the city is covered by mountains and hills, and the transmission lines span across forests, valleys and rivers.

Zhou said the complex geographical environment used to seriously hinder the inspection and maintenance of the power grid because the workers must travel to the problem areas.

Thanks to drones, now all the transmission lines can be inspected via computers, which has significantly improved work efficiency.

"In just 30 minutes, a drone could complete a task that used to take two people three hours," said Zhou.

According to the company, continuous efforts will be made to expand the application scenarios of drones, as well as to advance the digital and intelligent transition of the power grid, thereby better meeting the local electricity needs.