As the weather heats up, drones will take to the skies in high-risk bushfire areas to inspect the tops of power poles.
Power distribution company Powercor, which provides more than 60 per cent of Victoria’s power distribution infrastructure, including the Goulburn Valley’s, added an in-house drone inspection team this year.
“We are always looking at ways to build on how we keep our network safe and reliable, and we are already seeing major benefits from introducing drone technology to complement our inspection programs,” CitiPower and Powercor head of customer experience Adam Nason said.
“Our team of drone pilots have been flying small quadcopter drones above our network, capturing valuable data and images of assets such as cross-arms, pole tops and insulators.
“This means we can pick up issues that may arise in-between our usual inspection cycles. For example, we have found and removed some bird nests on high voltage insulators this year that may have otherwise led to an outage occurring.”
The drone inspections are in addition to the company’s broader inspection and maintenance program, which monitors more than 77,000 kilometres of power lines, 602,000 power poles, and other infrastructure on a rolling cycle of at least two and a half years.
According to Powercor, other activities the company has conducted to prepare for summer include using helicopters to inspect vegetation across the network, cutting trees away from power lines, rolling out new fault indication technology, and replacing and reinforcing thousands of power poles.
Earlier this year, the provider pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to over 100 charges, including failure to complete inspections of 4866 line spans between poles in the Greater Shepparton and Horsham Rural City municipal regions in 2021, resulting in vegetation close to power lines in several areas.
The prosecution in that case also said Powercor’s failure to clear trees from power lines in one case led to a fire at Glenmore in February of last year.
The company was convicted of failing to manage vegetation around power lines, and fined $2.1 million.
In pleading guilty, the defence said Powercor had acknowledged its responsibilities and its failure to meet them.
The company revised its operations and has employed more technology to ensure the entire network can be reviewed annually.
Still, as the weather continues to warm, people are being urged to prepare for the possibility of power outages in extreme conditions, and plan ahead.
Powercor noted that summer can bring weather extremes such as high heat, strong winds, and lightning, which can damage the power network and lead to localised outages.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting “warmer than average days and nights” across much of the country in the coming months.
A low-intensity heatwave warning is already in effect for the Shepparton region through the end of this week, with temperatures expected to hit 38℃ on Saturday.
“Our specialist teams work year-round to make sure our network is prepared for extreme summer months and are ready to respond safely and quickly if the power does go out,” Mr Nason said.
“We are also asking everyone to act too by making preparing for power outages part of their emergency plan.”
The company is advising customers to have a back-up plan ready if someone in their home relies on life support equipment or if they need electrical items to care for vulnerable household members such as babies, people with disabilities, older adults, or pets.
People are also advised to keep drinking water on hand if water supply relies on power and have a plan to keep food safe.
Other tips include ensuring back-up batteries are charged, generators are fully fuelled, torches are handy, and that people in the home know how to manually open electric garage doors and gates.
Customers can also sign up for SMS notifications about power supplies.