Drones driving efficiencies

Maintaining a resilient and reliable network that also meets future generational growth drives Endeavour Energy’s focus on efficient operations.

To do this, we are streamlining processes and using new technologies wherever possible to provide greater value for money. We continue to be benchmarked by the AER as the most efficient network business in NSW and one of the most efficient in Australia.

Across our network, our innovative approach includes the way we design, build and maintain our electricity network, and continuously upskill our people to ensure they have the skills and know-how to enable our customers to access the grid of the future.

As part of this approach, we are now leveraging the latest in drone technology to keep our people safe, electricity supply reliable and provide greater value for money for our customers, and have been upskilling our project managers, designers and operations teams as drone pilots.

Recently, we were able to use drones to help improve emergency storm response, after a fallen tree impacted power supply across our network. 

Just 30 mins after deployment, our drone team were able to successfully locate a critical fault on the transmission line and dispatch a crew to repair it on the same day, creating significant time and cost efficiencies. This new technology is a significant improvement on the traditional method of using binoculars and driving the power line and it easier to locate faults at height and in dense bush.

We have also started using drones with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) capability to scan newly constructed works, bringing new assets into our digital twin, improving accuracy of our GIS data and creating a feedback loop to facilitate continuous improvement between designers and field crews.  

By combining drone technology with our digital twin, we are trialling the creation of autonomous routes for drones to undertake pole top inspections so we can continuously improve asset safety and reduce costs.