SA Power Networks will continue its use of drones after a successful trial of inspecting 150km of powerlines with drones in remote South Australia.

SA Power Networks has been working with Carbonix over the past 18 months to advance the use of long-range uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in aerial inspection work on remote electricity distribution network assets. The operation was a first for Australia, according to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) which approved the flight of drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) during the mission.

“We rely on aerial inspections to be able to meet inspection cycles,” SA Power Networks head of corporate affairs Paul Roberts says.

“Our crews also drive about 20 million kilometres annually patrolling and maintaining our vast network. Being able to deploy over-the-horizon drone patrols will drive greater efficiency in our asset management program and provide genuine safety benefits for our people and community.”

SA Power Networks plans to use drones to replace its current system of inspections, which are carried out by conventional crewed aircraft (helicopters and light planes) or ground crews.

The adoption of drones promises to improve response times to outages, fault finding, bushfire preparedness, maintenance work and planning and documentation of line re-stringing.

The utility said using Carbonix drones would result in an up to 80% reduction in operating costs and an up to 98% reduction in CO2 output, while at the same time improving safety and efficiency.