How Drones are Revolutionising the Power Sector

In India, a man hanging a top an electrical pole with multiple high voltage wires all around without a safety gear is, unfortunately, not an adventure sport enthusiast. He is merely an electrician trying to fix a power-cut. Not so long ago, manual inspection was the only way to find out what’s wrong with power lines. That’s when the drones flew in.

Drones provide high resolution images which can be analysed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered computer vision solutions. Empowering operations and maintenance while actively monitoring power infrastructure, drones can chart dangerous areas with nominal costs. With minimal fuel requirements, they put less pressure on the environment and can be used in myriad of ways. These include surveillance, fault detection, threat detection, maintenance checks, repair facilitation, construction aids, thermal detection, geomatics, and many more. Marred with power theft, loss of power during transmission and damage to property, power sector in India is a tangled mess. Most of these concerns can be solved by the use of drones. However, India’s policy on the usage of drones is vague at best, making it difficult for the sector to adopt drones for a variety of use-cases.

In the past decade, however, the drone revolution is gaining momentum by collaborating with different sectors for various use-cases like inspection, surveillance, 3D modelling and videography. A research by Drone Delivery Report predicted the growth of the global drone market from $14 billion in 2018 to over $43 billion in 2024 at a CAGR of 20.5 per cent. India, the fastest growing drone market in the world, increased in size exponentially since the legalisation of drones in 2018.

Evolution of drones in the Indian Ecosystem

India’s temporary blanket ban on drones in 2014 was a major speed breaker in the process of developing drones and dronebased solutions for India. Once the ban was lifted, step-by-step regulations are being created to monitor drones. Lawmakers are grappling with questions regarding the safeguarding and ownership of airspace and trespassing of privacy. India lacks laws protecting data privacy and the citizens are uninformed as well.

In this scenario, a drone’s ability to collect data discreetly exposes them to several forms of privacy breaches. Unregulated drones are also at risk of mid-air collision.

On 7th October 2014, the first notification on drones in India was issued in Public Notice by the Office of the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation regulator. As the discourse on drones developed, the guidelines and protocols grew sophisticated. There are two factors governing a drone- the weight that defines its size and its ability to fly unmanned outside the visual line of sight. The first set of guidelines in 2016 only allowed Mini and Macro drones with visual line of sight (VLOS).

The 2017 regulations stipulated that “all UAVs, irrespective of weight category are to be flown maintaining Visual Line of Sight (VLOS)”. These guidelines had gaps in issues like legal liability and import controls, with no provisions ensuring non-interference by a drone in other’s independent operations. Unique Identification Number (UIN) was made compulsory for the UAV and security clearance of drones from the Ministry of Home Affairs before being operational. The Draft 2018 DGCA Guidelines assigned the legal responsibility of UAV to their respective operators.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation published the draft Unmanned Aircraft System Rules in 2020 which dealt with various aspects of flying drones in India. Currently, all drones, except those in the Nano category, need to be registered and obtain UIN. Drone pilots must maintain a visual line of sight while flying, with a separate permission required for the commercial drone operations. They also cannot be flown in areas specified as “No Fly Zones” like airports or military grounds.

The Indian government is, reportedly, considering revising certain sections of the Information Technologies (IT) Act, which cover various questions of privacy and technology, including concepts of data protection and distribution. The only other law applicable in this case is Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which covers the Right to Privacy. While these laws define the idea of privacy in India, they cannot be applied directly to the UAV case. The government needs to open a dialogue on defining certain parameters of privacy related to UAVs; otherwise, the prosecution of breaches of privacy can get more convoluted.

Use cases

Solar Farms

Solar energy, the fastest-growing sector of the energy economy, is in gain with drone surveys. Drones ensure that power panels work in perfect condition. It can detect defects like cracking, deamination and de-colouration as well as problems like dust accumulation lead. With drones, time consuming, inaccurate and often infrequent manual inspections are redundant. Visual inspection alongside advanced feature of electroluminescence and infrared thermography ensures improved quality of data at reduced costs with minimal safety risks. The analysed data can improve the decision-making process. Similarly, solar panels are susceptible to theft due to their high cost and remote spread. AI enabled drones can quickly reach the suspected area to provide real time visual feed and track the thieves. With drones, the guarded solar panels can yield maximum output.

Wind farms

Wind farms are generally spread in a large area and require scheduled running and maintenance. Manual inspection is a time-consuming process which poses several safety hazards due to the geographical nature of spread and the height of the wind turbines. Equipped with sensors and high-resolution cameras, drones send accurate data to view and take actions accordingly. It also helps in planning future maintenance. Drones assist with delivering equipment or related materials to be handed to the mill worker, making the process less hazardous.

Inspection of power lines: The US utilities collectively allocate $6 billion to $8 billion funds annually for the inspection and maintenance of its power infrastructure with helicopters and ground technicians. Drones have drastically reduced the manpower needed for power line inspections. They have also improved the safety standards by eliminating the direct contact of the man and the hazard, increasing reliability and reducing response time at the time of an event.

Accessing high voltage power lines in remote regions for routine checks or surveying damages after any calamity can lead to a difficult and dangerous situation if not handled by an experienced workforce. Drones minimise the scope of human error, providing a holistic solution when it comes to problems related to monitoring substations, switchyards and transmission lines. These help in improving the safety and efficiency of utilities, thus minimizing hazardous work. They provide real-time alerts related to energy grids, thus giving enough time to take action on safety protocol effectively.

EPC Companies: Drones help EPC companies to capture data for project building purposes. By capturing dynamic images which help building infrastructure models from the ground up, drones assist engineers in designing various electrical infrastructures by collecting data that provide operational information and construction details. The 3D information generated by this data can be utilized by several design applications. They also gather useful data through infrared sensors, ultraviolet cameras and radio frequency sensors.

Mitigating Power Theft

According to the annual Emerging Marckets Smart Grid: Outlook 2015 study by the Northeast Group, LLC, India incurs $16.2 billion loss in electricity theft, the highest in the world. Pan-India, 23 per cent accounts to the total transmission and distribution losses. In some states, however, the losses are close to 50 percent. Drones help collect evidence for swiftly prosecuting the power-thieves and dismantling their infrastructure.

Disaster Recovery

Drones are pivotal in assessing damage caused by natural and man-made disasters. Often, drones are deployed to survey flood and drought prone areas. Similarly, researchers have used to study the disaster struck areas in order to calibrate the relief efforts required. With the changing nature of disasters, drones can check the impact of gas leaks, nuclear disasters, unanticipated volcanic eruptions et al. Drones can also identify the needs of victims, providing them the right resources till the emergency teams reach physically, if possible, in certain situations. The power sector should keep a close eye on the development of drone regulations in order to plan their efficient use in future. Undoubtably, a drone hovering in the sky is an image of an electrifying future. One which we should all look forward to.

- Kunal Kislay, Co-founder and CEO of Integration Wizards Solutions