The global market in drone-powered solutions for the power and utilities industries is estimated to be worth around $9.46 billion a year.
This is according to PricewaterhouseCooper's (PwC) report titled 'Clarity from above: Leveraging drone technologies to secure utilities systems'.The research found as drones continue to be woven into utilities' transmission and distribution operations, signs point to a bright future for the technology in the electric power industry. The reportillustrates how creative uses of unmanned aerial vehicles are disrupting the way utilities and power companies build, operate and maintain their networks.
Utilities companies, according to the research, spend millions of dollars each year maintaining and inspecting high voltage power transmission and distributing power lines and pipelines, which are often in hard-to-reach, dangerous places. These companies are now increasingly looking towards drones as a safe and effective tool to assist them in mitigating hazardous, time-consuming and often-dangerous work.
Water utilities are also finding that drones can be more useful than satellites in the process of monitoring water quality.Every year the power and utilities sector loses $169 billion due to energy network failures and forced shutdowns, adds the report.
"The power and utilities sector faces numerous challenges as it stands on the threshold of a digital revolution," says Michal Mazur, partner at PwC's Drone Powered Solutions. "Pressure to shift to renewables from fossil fuels, while reducing prices is forcing companies to look for new ways to stay profitable. As companies reinvent their business models, drones are helping increase the reliability of energy production, transmission and distribution."
In most countries, according to PwC, monitoring vegetation growth and trimming trees near power lines is the single biggest maintenance cost for power companies. Drones can make the trimming process more efficient, as well as provide data that helps predict and avoid damage from falling trees. Other examples of drone applications range from geospatial surveys in pre-investment planning, through monitoring of the infrastructure construction process and managing assets, to accessing remote areas of high voltage power lines.
Chris Bredenhann, power and utilities leader at PwC Africa, says: "The potential of drones to assist in maintaining power and utilities networks is significant. Not only can drones gather standardised tangible data in a more efficient way than people located on the ground, but they can do it without risking human life."
According to a report by Commercial UAV Expo, conducted by Jeremiah Karpowicz, process, power and utility professionals that are focused on inspection tools for assets like pipelines, cell towers and transmission lines are making use of drones as the UAV technology gives them the ability to reconsider their approach around the setup, monitoring and fixing of their infrastructures.
"Many drone applications are going to be more about enhancing other services than replacing what is being done. Take tower inspection for example. There are humans climbing towers for any number of reasons, and while drones won't completely replace that activity, they will provide greater efficiencies, reduce human exposure to harm, and reduce cost structure across a broad and diverse set of industries," says Sean Murphy, Sr. Engineer - Emerging Devices and Technologies at T-Mobile.
According to a report from market intelligence firm Tractica, the interest in utilising drones for commercial applications will drive commercial-grade UAV shipments from 80 000 units in 2015 to more than 2.6 million annually by 2025, with commercial drone-enabled services forecasted to grow to $8.7 billion annually by 2025.
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