Power

Thermal Power Generation

Power plants based on coal or gas as a fuel are spread across a large area with several sub-unit to manage. UAV based inspection and monitoring of Thermal Power Plants can help by improving human safety by ensuring constant monitoring of civil structures and electrical assets. Based on image and pattern recognition proactive maintenance could be carried out avoiding catastrophic breakdowns. UAVs could also be employed in analysing and monitoring environmental impact due to emissions.

Solar Power Generation

Solar energy, the fastest-growing sector of the energy economy, gains immensly due to UAV based ith UAV surveys. UAVs ensure that power panels work in perfect condition. Visual inspection alongside advanced features of electroluminescence and infrared thermography ensures improved quality of data at reduced costs with minimal safety risks. The analyzed data can improve the decision-making process. Similarly, solar panels are susceptible to theft due to their high cost and remote spread. AI-enabled UAVs can quickly reach the suspected area to provide real-time visual feed and track the thieves. With UAVs, the guarded solar panels can yield maximum output. The UAV can be helpful in monitoring the detection of cracks on solar panels, deamination and de-colouration due to accumulation of lead, Hot Spot detection, and Vegetation monitoring.

Hydro Power Generation

Hydro Power plants have millions of litres of water in the dams so the construction and regular inspection of the dam is very important to avoid any kind of calamity. The UAV can be used to monitor the regular progress of construction at the project site, an inspection of cracks in the dam walls, and regular surveillance of the project site.

Wind Power Generation

Wind farms are generally spread in a large area and require scheduled running and maintenance. Manual inspection is a time-consuming process that poses several safety hazards due to the geographical nature of the spread and the height of the wind turbines. Equipped with sensors and high-resolution cameras, UAVs send accurate data to view and take actions accordingly. It also helps in planning future maintenance. UAVs assist with delivering equipment or related materials to be handed to the mill worker, making the process less hazardous. UAVs can be used in the detection of anomalies like blade cracks, leading-edge erosion, delamination of the blades, blade furniture detachment, and lightning strike damage.

Transmission & Distribution

In the past, inspection of power lines was necessarily done manually. Teams were sent to inspect lines in person – climbing poles, examining vegetation and covering dozens of kilometres a day. For utilities operating smaller networks of a few hundred kilometres, this may be feasible, but for their larger competitors, it is impossible to cover large distances efficiently in a short time without employing a small army of inspectors – and armies tend to be expensive.

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.

UAV helps in the detection of birds’ nests, damaged bolts, rusting, corrosion, loose wires, damaged insulators, missing pins and defects in transmission towers, lightning arresters, spacer, sag adjuster with bolted tension clamp, vibration damper, bailor.

Electric utility operators can use 3C Digital UAV-as-a-Service to collect and deliver photos and videos of their assets. Using our ecosystem partner’s AI ML powered cloud-based application, the images are then organised, geo-rectified and annotated to help utilities improve their inspections, reduce regulatory risk, mitigate the impact of vegetation encroachment and accelerate their modernisation and pole strengthening programmes.

UAVs equipped with fail-safe features that can fly low and slow to collect extensive RGB and LiDAR data from a variety of angles. Utilities can then track changes to equipment over time and make timely plans for repairs and renovations.

UAVs have drastically reduced the manpower needed for power line, grids and substation 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.