CyberHawk drones will help prevent California wildfires for utility Edison

CyberHawk has won a drone inspection contract with a major California utility provider after a long competitive process. CyberHawk will provide inspection services to maintain and detect any issues with the state’s electrical infrastructure.

The contract with Edison was awarded to CyberHawk earlier this year and will mainly focus on supporting the critical wildfire prevention and reliability campaign. The drones will be inspecting thousands of lattice steel towers and wood electricity poles that deliver power to much of California’s residents and buildings.

CyberHawk will deploy its highly skilled drone pilots to inspect the infrastructure and provide the clients with high-quality data to better understand if there are any issues with the equipment, which will then be fixed or replaced if needed. The drones will also collect data around bushes and shrubs that could potentially catch fire if they were to meet the electricity cables.

The drones will also allow for a substantial cut in inspection costs using current methods such as helicopters and improve efficiency as the drones can be deployed within minutes, do the job, and then land, all within a short timeframe. The drones also cut down on the amount of manpower needed to complete inspections.

Using the drones also gives the utility an extra benefit of being able to get in closer for a better look at issues that could be hard to find. The drones will be equipped with a zoom camera and thermal camera, making all faults almost impossible to not detect.

Cyberhawk CEO Chris Fleming, said:

Protecting customers and property during wildfire season is a top priority for US utilities. To prevent deadly fires, and prevent power outages, mitigation is key. We’re seeing more and more utilities turn to trusted drone-based inspection services to bolster their wildfire prevention and reliability programs. Securing this contract reinforces the high level of trust we have fostered within the utilities sector and highlights the strong performance of our people and technology. We have proven that we can successfully deliver drone services to the very highest standards time and time again in challenging conditions, and across a number of safety-critical project scopes. We are looking forward to building on this relationship and continuing to provide US utilities with innovative drone solutions, and highly skilled pilots, to shore up their inspection and maintenance programs and ensure operations are as safe and resilient as possible.

Photo: CyberHawk

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