UAS Powerline Inspection in Southern California

MissionGO Unmanned Systems has confirmed that it has entered into a 3-year partnership to providing UAS (unmanned aerial systems) inspection services to Southern California Edison, the largest subsidiary of Edison International and primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California.

With high temperatures and extreme droughts throughout the region, staying ahead of mechanical issues, malfunctioning equipment and dangerous failures is a priority for energy and utility companies. Using UAS to view and inspect transmission and distribution electricity poles – along with other components of critical infrastructure – minimizes the time and hazards while increasing the quality and quantity of collected data.

Throughout the last several years working with Southern California Edison, MissionGO’s UAS inspection team performed over 6,500 sorties and catalogued more than 1,200 hours of flight time. The team reviewed and captured data from 20,000 distribution poles and 4,000 transmission poles with zero incidents. These flight operations have prevented wildfires and given Southern California Edison the time needed to prioritize and repair infrastructure to keep the community safe.

After a rigorous vetting and demonstration process, MissionGO was selected as one of two companies to secure this new contract with Southern California Edison. The contract includes nearly 160,000 poles to be inspected and is estimated at $50 million over the next 3 years. This being one of the largest UAS services contracts in the world, MissionGO is looking forward to bringing on talented pilots and crews to continue this critical work in California.

Chris Corgnati, President of MissionGO, commented: “MissionGO is proud of our history with Southern California Edison, and we look forward to continuing our work together. SCE’s commitment to safety makes MissionGO the perfect partner to keep the people of California connected and secure.”

Joe Piazza, MissionGO’s Director of Infrastructure Inspections, says the team is ready and excited to continue the work in California. “We’ve made an impact to the people here – not only through our safe and reliable services – but also through the community engagement and education of our teams.”

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