AES Ohio, Sinclair partner to improve maintenance of powerlines

AES Ohio is showing off the new technology the company is using to help maintain its powerlines.

Teaming up with Sinclair College, the company is working to prevent potential problems before they ever happen.

AES Ohio has more than 1,700 miles of powerlines that it has to maintain that are inspected two to four times per year, and now they are using drones to get the job done.

Some spots are easy to see, but there are some areas with a lot of trees that make it difficult to keep an eye on them. Helicopters have even been used to inspect the lines.

“The drone is an opportunity to reduce hazardous work hours so we don’t have people in a helicopter. ideally we’ll get to a point where we can lower the cost of doing this,” Rob Beeler, AES Ohio customer business manager said.

The team at Sinclair College does a lot of work mapping the path for the drone that flies autonomously.

The drone flies over the lines taking pictures of the equipment on top of poles, as well as the lines themselves to compile as much information as possible.

The drone is light weight and made of foam in order to fly faster and continuously for 90 minutes on one battery.

The company also has smaller drones that it uses before storms to identify potential issues looking at lines that have had multiple events over the past 12 months.

The push to more virtual, digital, and technology based projects helps reduce costs too.

“Drone technology is much broader than just this project,” Beeler said.

The company provided an example of a fixed wing drone through corridor mapping.

“Those are more long range plans, with beyond visual line of sight we’ll be able to extend the range of the data collection that we do. That will make the process faster and cheaper, more affordable for the utility and our customers,” Beeler said.

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