New Technology

Drone-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

Opportunity

Jones-Onslow EMC is looking to the future and finding better ways to serve its members, and an area of focus has been the improvement of line and equipment maintenance. Throughout the years, line crews have manually inspected all lines, poles, and equipment to ensure safety and reliability. These inspections have caught many issues before resulting in outages for our members over the years. But it is hard for JOEMC crews to reach all areas safely because of our large and geographically diverse service territory. In some regions, outages may occur due to the inability to see all the equipment correctly.

Goal

The application of drone technology for the co-op was an innovative choice that promised a bright future. We have seen a significant reduction in risk, as no personnel needs to be sent into potentially dangerous situations. We are also able to carry out routine maintenance in a manner that minimizes disruption to our members. Moreover, drones allow us to inspect our equipment and infrastructure in detail more closely, giving us better insight when planning our budgeting for equipment and pole replacements. Overall, drone technology has provided the co-op with more cost-effective and efficient operations and increased safety for our members.

Solution

The drone technology is a revolutionary tool for JOEMC to quickly and efficiently identify potential issues in its power grid, allowing for early and proactive measures to be taken in order to prevent power outages from happening. Using a bird’s eye view, drones help monitor electrical wires, poles, transformers, and substations and can easily detect even the slightest changes in the equipment, indicating the presence of possible problems or possible impending failures. With this level of observation, JOEMC can rapidly detect problems, adjust its maintenance plan, and be more confident in the stability of its energy grid.

By leveraging the power of growing technology, JOEMC is no longer reactive to energy grid outages but can now be more proactive in managing the health and sustainability of the energy grid. With this improved efficiency and intelligence, JOEMC can ensure a brighter future.