DTEK Kyiv Region Grids tested all-terrain vehicles to repair power lines in Kyiv Region
DTEK Kyiv Region Grids serves 46 thousand km of power grid in Kyiv Region; they give light to more than 1 million customers. The entire infrastructure requires regular inspection and maintenance to prevent potential emergency shutdowns. Some of the company's power lines are in hard-to-reach places, like river crossings and wetlands. As a rule, in order to check the line in such places, power engineers have to use boats or conduct surveys only in winter.
“DTEK Kyiv Region Grids explore the best world experience to make the grids modern and reliable. In 2020, together with our partners SHERP and DroneUA, we are testing amphibious ATVs to repair the grids in the most difficult conditions. During the pilot project, we saw that the car could easily drive where other special vehicles cannot move. It is crucial for us to get to the lines quickly at the time of an accident, especially in difficult terrain or in winter when roads become impassable after heavy snowfall. Conventional machinery cannot cope with such conditions, and we need to return the light to our customers quickly,” says Vitalii Shaida, DTEK Kyiv Region Grids Director General.
During a test inspection, the company's repair team drove using ATV between the spans of power towers located within an impassable swampy area, and evaluated the power grids condition. At the same time, the drones made an overhead inspection of the line and immediately, using thermal imaging monitoring, determined whether there were overheats that could entail an emergency shutdown. Following the test inspection using ATV, the company's specialists received data on the technical condition of a 2 km high-voltage line in 1.5 hours. A normal inspection would require waiting until the swamp is frozen, and would take at least 12 hours.
“Innovation is not just technology; it is culture, above all. It depends on people and their open-mindedness to change as to whether the company can transform effectively. For this pilot project, we moved beyond and used a symbiosis of technologies. The outcome met our expectations, so we will continue to promote cooperation with SHERP and DroneUA within DTEK,” says Emanuele Volpe, DTEK Chief Innovation Officer.
DTEK looks into the experience gained during the pilot project in order to assess the efficiency of using all-terrain vehicles in the company's operation under difficult weather conditions and swampy terrain.
Video of a pilot project for line survey in Kyiv Region can be found here.