📹 Watch our latest webinar: - How to Succeed in Scalable Drone Inspection
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Following several large-scale projects with Enedis on the medium-voltage (HTA) distribution grid in various regions, we had the pleasure of visiting RTE’s STH (Service Travaux Héliportés, its helicopter operations unit) in Avignon.
Following several large-scale projects with Enedis on the medium-voltage (HTA) distribution grid in various regions, we had the pleasure of visiting RTE’s STH (Service Travaux Héliportés, its helicopter operations unit) in Avignon.
Together with Tobias Fridén (CTO and co-founder), Max Hjalmarsson (CEO and co-founder) and Jean Guis (Director of Operations, Southern Europe), we spent two full days with the RTE teams.
On the agenda:
• Demonstrating Airpelago Power, our automated flight solution for inspecting high-voltage overhead power lines and also its capabilities for asset monitoring & data management.
• Sharing our perspectives on the future of drone inspections, how to make use of the vast amounts of data collected, and the tools needed to turn that data into actionable insights.
• Discussing our flight authorisations and the evolving regulatory framework for deploying drones in industrial environments.
We were impressed by RTE’s maturity in aerial operations. In addition to operating its own helicopter fleet, RTE is at the forefront of using commercially available drone technologies, even adapting them to meet its highly specific needs.
The challenge was therefore considerable: demonstrating that our expertise and solution deliver real added value in such a technologically advanced environment.
Our LUC (Light UAS Operator Certificate) and our command of BVLOS operations were decisive. They show in practice that scaling up is possible, with beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights of up to 14 km, within a solid and proven regulatory framework.
RTE found the Airpelago solution mature and well developed, which opens up new possibilities for drone inspections of the high-voltage (HTB) grid.
We are hopeful we can continue collaborating with RTE focusing on innovation, knowledge-sharing and pushing the envelope in terms of scalable drone inspection.
A big thank you to Julien Bovero, Philippe Bernon and Nicolas Ponsinet for their welcome and for this opportunity.
