With Help from Drones and Data, PG&E Aerial Inspections Reached New Heights in 2020

While 2020 will likely be remembered by most for its challenges the year included plenty of progress as well.

For example, it was a year use of Unmanned Aerial Systems — referred to as UAS or drones — reached new heights at PG&E.

In use on a limited scale since 2015, drones were first introduced for use in detailed electric transmission infrastructure inspections as part of the Wildfire Safety Inspections Program in 2019.

Drone pilot at work.

Their use rapidly expanded in 2020, allowing for a continued safe, effective means for inspecting and patrolling infrastructure.

Of the 55,471 transmission structures detail inspected in 2020, more than half, 31,645, were conducted via drone captured imagery.

Mary Molina, manager, Aerial & Specialized Inspections, said PG&E is a leader in the utility industry when it comes to drone deployment for inspections.

“There are only a handful of utility companies in the US utilizing drones for inspections and from what we have learned from our benchmarking sessions none of them are performing inspections to the level of detail currently being carried out by PG&E,” Molina said.

But drones, and the data they gathered, did more than help maintain a high volume of aerial inspections.

Drone and data-related improvements also helped make inspections more efficient and productive.

“We can push so much more data through,” Molina said in reference to improvements in how aerial photos are analyzed. “That is how we were able to get so much more done.”

Hamilton Erridge, IT GIS Imagery Task Force Lead, said “Improved workflow processes produced a dramatic increase in the capacity for data analysis.”

In 2019 vendors delivered images by hand on encrypted hard drives. In 2020 PG&E transitioned the vendors to a cloud-based approach with Amazon Web Services which eliminated the hard drive delivery process.

Also, the team added significant automations for data ingestion, which also increased productivity.

Combined, the improvements helped the team receive and process 3.9 million images in 2020, compared to 2.3 million in 2019, a 41 percent increase.

“It was quite revolutionary what we did in 2019, and what we did for 2020 was light years ahead of that,” Erridge said.

Angela Snider, UAS Operations supervisor, said one of the greatest benefits of using drones for inspections is the opportunity to make the work safer by reducing the exposure to risk.

“Drones mitigate many safety hazards,” Snider said, citing everything from exposure to poison oak, climbing risks, marshy ground and rough terrain.

And while drones are subject to many of the same weather, wind and visibility limitations as helicopters, they can still be a big help.

One reason is their availability. The sensitive, high-tech camera and gimbal PG&E contracts for inspections by helicopters has limited availability. When it’s in service elsewhere, PG&E can use the services of contract or in-house drone pilots to gather inspection data.

“Drones can sometimes even maneuver to positions to reach places helicopters can’t,” Molina said.

“When you start looking at lattice structures there is no way you can see everything from a helicopter, so you have to use a drone,” she said.

In addition to drone use for detailed inspections, a select group of IBEW troublemen and compliance inspectors, working under a letter of agreement with PG&E, leveraged drones to assist in their work.

In 2021 PG&E will look to integrate drone technology even deeper into operations.

The company, with authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, conducted tests with vendors on beyond line of sight flying, BVLOS, which essentially allows pilots to fly drones further than they do under standard, FAA visual line of sight rules.

That could help make drones more useful in other situations, such as inspecting infrastructure following a Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS.

“Beyond visual line of sight allows the operator to fly far beyond what the eye can see,” Snider said. “They can stream a feed to the command center which will allow individuals to look at the data.”

Another part of integrating drones into broader use will involve educating people throughout PG&E on the opportunities and limitations of the technology.

“A majority of the lines of business have never used drones before and have been highly reliant on helicopters and our fixed wing department. UAS Operations is reaching out and plans to have a larger impact in supporting all lines of business at PG&E” Snider said.

With PG&E working harder than ever to reduce safety risks, expect even more progress in 2021 when it comes to using drones and the large amounts of data they can gather.

“Our scope this year is even bigger,” Molina said. “And we’re ready.”

Email Currents at Currents@pge.com.