State Grid Taizhou Power Supply Company: Smart Inspection Upgraded, "Dual-Core" Airports Unleash Operational Potential

On March 19, Hou Ye, a UAV operation technician at State Grid Taizhou Power Supply Company, executed a command from the monitoring screen—two fixed airports at the 220 kV Sixiang Substation simultaneously took off. One drone conducted infrared temperature measurements on main transformer equipment, while the other performed channel scanning along high-voltage transmission lines. This scene of “dual drones in action” marked the official operational launch of the company’s innovative “dual-core” airport system.

Since May last year, despite the deployment of 16 fixed airports covering major stations in the Hailing Demonstration Zone, hubs like the Sixiang Substation—clustered with 220 kV equipment—faced frequent instances of “drone competition” and operational delays. Addressing this challenge, the company’s R&D team spent three months conducting field tests to develop a “dual-core linkage” solution, achieving a technological breakthrough with “1+1>2” efficiency. By upgrading the existing Sixiang Substation airport into a “dual-core” system, complete with a shared database and task allocation platform, the two drones now autonomously avoid route conflicts.

“It’s like adding parallel runways at an airport—both drones can execute different missions simultaneously,” explained Chen Ting, the project’s technical lead. Operational data shows that full equipment inspections at the substation now take 12 days, down from 26, while daily UAV mission capacity has surged by 185%.

Hardware upgrades further enhance safety: laser radar obstacle-avoidance systems and tripled optical zoom capabilities significantly improve flight safety and reconnaissance accuracy. Battery endurance has increased from 30 to 40 minutes, extending operational radius to 7 kilometers. At five upgraded 220 kV substations, smart inspections are now three times more efficient than manual efforts.

Having passed rigorous spring maintenance tests, the dual-core airports are now being scaled across Taizhou’s power grid, building a citywide smart inspection network. This innovation not only alleviates frontline operational pressure but also sets a new benchmark for real-time power equipment monitoring. (By Yang Yi and WangXiao)