Drones

The Trump administration has proposed new drone regulations that will eliminate case-by-case approval processes for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)  operations, while Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy confirmed accelerated plans to deploy a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and […]

Utilities need to modernize their grid infrastructure but face a unique challenge: change is tricky when the stakes are high. Technology is changing faster than ever, from the latest smartphones and devices to automated tools being introduced across industries to ease workloads. For essential mission-critical services such as electric power, failure is not an option. […]

DAVIDSON, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Teledyne FLIR Defense to supply unmanned systems and integrated solutions to the U.S. nuclear power market and Department of Energy (DOE). Mobile unmanned systems (MUS), including drones, robotics, and submersibles, play a critical role in industrial and defense applications […]

2020 was a catastrophic year for wildfires across the U.S. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that almost 60,000 fires ran rampant across more than 9 million acres in the U.S. last year, nearly 1.5 times the 10-year average of 6.6 million acres. Not only this, California saw its first-ever “gigafire,” a devastating single […]

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been dabbled with throughout the power industry for years. POWER featured a drone on its cover in April 2014, and has published many articles on drone technology since then. Yet, the technology has been used more as a novelty in the power sector up to this point. As […]

Summertime heat is cresting at the same time many economic restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are easing in communities across the United States.  Meanwhile, as extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, much of the country is on alert as forecasters predict severe hurricane, tornado, and wildfire seasons will continue.   Utilities know they need […]

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has put communities on lockdown and created a need for social distancing. Many are staying at home, but that’s not an option for the frontline workers running critical power transmission infrastructure and keeping the lights on. How can utilities keep up with their operational and safety obligations with a reduced onsite […]

Extreme weather events are hitting more often and harder than ever before, and storm-hardening regulations are prompting utilities to strengthen the electrical grid to withstand storm-force winds. As part of this effort, leading utilities are using drone-based data collection and analysis to assess how their electrical grids can withstand Mother Nature’s punishment. Aerial robotics and […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a change to a long-standing policy interpreting “ambient air”—a foundational concept under the Clean Air Act that applies to all types of air pollution, from ground-level ozone, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases. While the agency framed the change as part of a suite of actions to reform New Source […]

SEATTLE – February 20, 2019– Clobotics, a leading provider in industry-level computer vision solutions, today announced a global strategic partnership with GEV Wind Power, one of the largest wind operations and maintenance (O&M) companies in Europe. The global partnership will use Clobotics pioneering artificial intelligence solutions to deliver AI-based autonomous blade inspections for wind turbines, […]