SAN DIEGO, March 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted San Diego Gas &
Electric (SDG&E) a Section 333 approval for Unmanned Aircraft
Systems (UAS), allowing the utility to conduct aerial inspections
of its electric and gas facilities, including emergency response
damage assessments throughout its service territory. SDG&E is
the second utility in the nation to be granted the Section 333
approval.
"The utility industry is rapidly changing and this new FAA
approval is another milestone that will improve the way SDG&E
conducts its operations," said John
Sowers, SDG&E's vice president of electric distribution
operations. "The new UAS technology will enable us to improve
response times to emergency situations, inspect our electric and
gas facilities in remote areas that are otherwise difficult to
access, reduce the use of manned helicopters, enhance overall
employee and public safety, and locate the cause of power outages
faster."
In 2014, SDG&E was granted approval by the FAA to fly a
small UAS for the purpose of research, development and flight crew
training in a sparsely populated airspace in eastern San Diego County. Through research and
development, SDG&E began testing small UASs in day-to-day
operations to improve inspections of electric lines.
SDG&E plans to use UASs in several situations which provide
a variety of key benefits. In addition to locating the cause of
power outages, the UASs improve situational awareness during
emergencies through monitoring of fires; and will achieve cost
savings, noise reductions and environmental protection by reducing
the use of helicopters and other heavy machinery.
Measuring 16 inches in diameter and weighing less than a pound,
these small devices use a camera to inspect utility equipment and
relay live images back to the controller. The UAS can access
infrastructure that is difficult to reach for utility crews and
alert them if repairs are needed.
In order to maintain reliability, SDG&E inspects more than
26,000 miles of transmission and distribution power lines for
safety and compliance purposes and to ensure the grid is
continuously running smoothly and effectively.
SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides safe and
reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4
million electric meters and 868,000 natural gas meters in
San Diego and southern
Orange counties. The utility's
area spans 4,100 square miles. SDG&E is committed to
creating ways to help customers save energy and money every
day. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a
Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. Connect with SDG&E's Customer
Contact Center at 800-411-7343, on Twitter (@SDGE) and
Facebook.
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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)