Lishui, Zhejiang: Intelligent Drone Inspections Weave a Dense Safety Net for Power Supply

“Branches detected within the line corridor, please handle promptly!” On October 15, during an inspection of a 35 kV power line using drones, operations and maintenance personnel from the State Grid Lishui Power Supply Company identified a safety hazard and quickly mobilized to address it, ensuring the power grid is ready for peak winter demand. Behind this efficient response lies the deep application of intelligent operation and maintenance technology in the power industry.

Compared with the traditional inspection mode, which mainly relies on manual patrols and telescopic observation, intelligent drone inspection technology demonstrates significant advantages. Traditional methods are not only less efficient and time-consuming but also pose higher safety risks for personnel in complex terrains and harsh weather conditions. Moreover, certain equipment defects are easily overlooked due to limited viewing angles. Today, drones equipped with high-definition cameras and intelligent recognition systems can conduct comprehensive, dead-angle-free scans of transmission lines, greatly improving inspection accuracy and coverage.

During inspection tasks, drones follow pre-set flight routes to systematically examine and precisely photograph key components, including the line corridor environment, tower structures, insulators, conductors, and fittings. Through a real-time image transmission system, hazards such as branches obstructing the corridor or damaged insulators are automatically identified, significantly enhancing both the quality and efficiency of inspections.

“In the past, manual inspections could hardly cover all the key parts of a tower,” said Fu Jun, an employee of State Grid Lishui Electric Power Company. “Now, with the intelligent ‘assistant’ of drones, we can capture high-definition photos of towers and critical conductor components, automatically identify defects, and transmit the data in real time to the control center. We can inspect three towers within just half an hour.”

Moving forward, State Grid Lishui Power Supply Company will continue to deepen the integration of manual and drone inspections, strengthen the identification and assessment of grid risks and conduct comprehensive hazard checks. At the same time, based on the operational characteristics of the autumn and winter seasons, they will systematically organize autumn maintenance projects and implement key task lists, control tasks, and safety responsibility checklists, ensuring that no safety hazards are left undetected and injecting technological strength into preparations for peak winter demand.(By Zhu Lingxiao)