Unlocking Unlimited Potential for Utilities

The technical limitations around how drones can be applied are often a major point of conversation as well. This is what makes the concerns power, process and utility companies have around drones so unique. For the most part these organizations are not dealing with any of those issues as a top priority.

Instead, utility companies are working through the logistics of interpretation, collaboration and scalability. They're more than willing to comply with FAA requirements, but those requirements need to be properly interpreted. If a barrier needs to be installed when they're operating a drone within 500 feet of a person who isn't involved in the operation, what does that barrier need to look like? Utility companies don't compete with one another, which means that they can collaborate around these kinds of issues, but regional and logistical distinctions can make that process a difficult one. Lastly, the sheer size of many utility companies means that their ability to properly utilize drones represents a double-edged sword, as costs and potential savings across an entire infrastructure are weighed out.

Despite these unique challenges, professionals in various segments of the market have seen the potential UAVs possess.

Many utility companies can see the benefits of using UAVs, as they’ve already proven they can lower costs and keep their workforces infinitely safer. However, these organizations are running into major roadblocks when it comes to interpretation and scalability. The FAA has imposed certain restrictions on where and how they can fly, but where will the necessary clarification around these rules come from?

Similarly, what is the best way to integrate UAVs into an organization that has thousands of employees across the world? These are just some of the issues that experts on both sides of the market are working through, and this report includes insights around:

• How UAVs impact the scale and scope of utility operations
• What kind of an impact drones can have on safety measures
• The way in which people are using drones and not being replaced or supplanted by them

Download our free report to see how power, process and utility professionals from BP and Commonwealth Edison are using UAVs to reshape the way in which these organizations operate, and how drone companies like Skyward are helping companies integrate this new technology.