In the years to come, large power grid operators will operate and maintain an ever-increasing asset base. New innovative solutions are needed to increase the quality and efficiency of asset management to avoid corresponding growth in resources and cost. To this end, autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a range of possibilities. Here, we present a novel prototype solution for autonomous and remotely operated inspection missions with resident drones on electrical substations, comprising: (1) an autonomous drone with sense and avoid and robustness to harsh weather capability; (2) a drone hangar for remote operations; and (3) drone operations and data acquisition management software. Further, we discuss the possibilities and challenges that such a system offers and give an overview of requirements that are key to realizing the potential of drones for improved asset management. These requirements are based on years of operational experience with electrical substations combined with the lessons learned during the development and testing of our drone system. We also experimentally investigate safety distances between the drone and high-voltage infrastructure. We demonstrate the usefulness of our autonomous inspection solution through extensive field testing at one of Statnett’s fully operational electrical substations.

在未来的几年中，大型电网运营商将运营并维护不断增长的资产基础。需要新的创新解决方案来提高资产管理的质量和效率，从而避免资源和成本的相应增长。为此，无人驾驶无人机（UAV）提供了多种可能性。在这里，我们为变电站中的居民无人机提供了一种用于自主和远程检查任务的新颖原型解决方案，其中包括：（1）具有感知能力，能够避免恶劣天气条件并具有鲁棒性的自主无人机；（2）远程操作的无人机机库；（3）无人机操作和数据采集管理软件。更多，我们讨论了这种系统提供的可能性和挑战，并概述了要求，这些要求对于实现无人机改善资产管理的潜力至关重要。这些要求是基于多年的变电站运营经验以及我们在无人机系统的开发和测试过程中获得的经验教训而得出的。我们还通过实验研究了无人机与高压基础设施之间的安全距离。我们通过在Statnett完全运作的变电站之一进行广泛的现场测试，证明了我们的自动检查解决方案的有用性。我们还通过实验研究了无人机与高压基础设施之间的安全距离。我们通过在Statnett完全运作的变电站之一进行广泛的现场测试，证明了我们的自动检查解决方案的有用性。我们还通过实验研究了无人机与高压基础设施之间的安全距离。我们通过在Statnett完全运作的变电站之一进行广泛的现场测试，证明了我们的自动检查解决方案的有用性。