National Grid leads the way on cross-industry collaboration with Drones and Robotics Showcase event
An innovative event at National Grid’s Eakring training facility has brought the energy and aviation industries together, showcasing the drone space’s most cutting-edge technological advancements.
The first-of-its-kind event in the UK, organised by National Grid’s Overhead Lines (OHL) team, invited innovation leaders from around the world to deliver live demonstrations of new technologies - focusing on the use of drones and robots as complementary tools for the industry’s skilled lineworkers.
With over 100 attendees from across the OHL industry, eight technology companies from the UK, Canada, Italy, Norway and Sweden, presented and demonstrated their innovative solutions designed to enhance OHL maintenance and inspection activities using drones and robots.
New technologies and fresh perspectives are critical to transforming our energy infrastructure. National Grid’s workbook and ambitions are rapidly growing as we head towards the next regulatory period, RIIO-T3 and beyond, and a proactive approach is needed to tackle the challenges ahead – without compromising on existing safety standards.
National Grid already uses drone technology to help gather information about the condition of our electricity transmission system, alongside helicopters and skilled line workers. In recognition of the huge amount of work that is to come, and building on our RIIO-T3 ‘collective endeavour’ approach, this event encouraged exploration of complementary technologies to add to our OHL toolkit, and promoted collaboration and knowledge sharing across the industry.
In the long term, these new capabilities will allow our skilled line workers and helicopter fleet to focus on other specialist tasks that require human performance, helping us to manage workload and keep our networks operating safely and efficiently.
The event brought companies together to explore innovative solutions, with high-voltage infrastructure at the centre of key development discussions, fostering a community approach across the wider OHL industry.
National Grid Electricity Transmission's Specialist Access and Technology Engineer, Chris Land,
“This was a fantastic day with a wealth of pioneering technological developments demonstrated, inspiring confidence that our skilled lineworkers will have the freedom and opportunity to concentrate on more specialised tasks and manage their workloads effectively as we enter a period of big work.
It was great to get so many industry experts in one place from across the utilities and contracting partners in the UK, Ireland and Europe, to see the innovative technology in action. This technology is going to change how we manage and maintain OHLs in the future. Thank you to everyone that helped make the event a complete success."
