Drones Approved for Aerial Inspections of Power Facilities
Spearheaded by Dominion’s uncrewed aicraft systems program in partnership with Skydio’s regulatory affairs team and Virginia Tech, the project unfolded under the umbrella of the FAA’s BEYOND program. That federal initiative focuses on enabling drone operations beyond visual line of sight in situations — such as infrastructure inspection — where drones can offer significant advantages that will only be fully realized with those more ambitious flights.
The Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership leads Virginia’s BEYOND team in collaboration with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. Dominion’s infrastructure inspection project is one of three applications the team is tackling, along with residential package delivery with Wing and insurance inspections with State Farm.
The waiver request, developed by Skydio’s regulatory affairs team, covers more than 40 of Dominion’s facilities in Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. These facilities undergo routine inspections, and using a drone to do them avoids having to send an inspector up scaffolding, down walls, or into areas with high temperatures or other hazards. Adding the ability to fly beyond line of sight upgrades that safety advantage with a dramatic increase in efficiency: Now, the pilot can potentially conduct an entire facility inspection from a single location, sometimes even in a single flight, rather than traveling from place to place to keep the drone in view.
Dominion Energy first deployed drones in 2014, focusing primarily on identifying electrical transmission line defects. Since then, Dominion has expanded its drone program to include approximately 50 drones and drone pilots serving multiple operational business segments. At power generation facilities, Dominion Energy drones take volumetric measurements and assess construction progress, provide surveying and mapping services, and inspect infrastructure.
“A 20-minute inspection by a battery-powered drone will increase safety for our colleagues, who will no longer need to rappel down the side of a structure, as well as save time during inspection-related preparations,” said Nate Robie, the manager of Dominion Energy’s unmanned systems program. “As a pioneer in beyond visual line of sight drone use, Dominion Energy contributes to a safer, greener future as well as potentially lowering operations and maintenance costs, which ultimately benefits our customers.”
Developing regulations that would allow flights beyond visual line of sight to become routine and scalable, instead of permitted on a case-by-case basis through individual waivers and exemptions, is the focus of significant effort across the drone industry and at the FAA. Programs such as BEYOND provide real-world examples of strategies for conducting operations like this in ways that are practical, beneficial, and, crucially, safe.
“This pivotal approval brings Dominion Energy, Skydio, and the entire drone industry one step closer to advanced drone operations at scale,” said Jenn Player, Skydio’s director of regulatory affairs. “When it comes to scaling beyond visual line of sight operations, having an intelligent drone makes all the difference, and Skydio was proud to support Dominion Energy in obtaining this waiver that enables them to inspect critically important power facilities.”
The test site, Dominion, and Skydio all served on an advisory committee convened by the FAA last year to develop recommendations for rulemaking on operations beyond visual line of sight. The committee submitted its recommendations to the FAA last spring.
“The overwhelming majority of economically viable drone operations will require flying beyond visual line of sight,” Jones said. “It’s the key to reaching the tremendous potential that we all recognize is there. There’s still a lot of research and testing that needs to be done to get to that point, but operations enabled by waivers like this one give us a window into what the future could look like.”
