Hydrone propels pilot expertise sky-high

Flying a drone? Easy. Or is it? Operating drones legally and safely requires knowledge and practice. Axpo Hydro Digital’s hydrone provides the requisite tools for this both internally and externally. 

They detect corrosive damage to power lines, monitor dam walls and water catchments or material displacements following flushing, and survey suitable areas for PV systems. They monitor roofs, weirs, solar energy systems, but they also check for avalanches and landslides. Drones – the advantages are clear: they can get to people quickly in dangerous and inaccessible locations, deliver high-resolution images, be operated remotely, do their job along a pre-programmed flightpath or completely autonomously. All of this saves time and resources. 

Drones systematically scan objects and areas, and the image data obtained in the process can be converted into 3D models. The digital twin this creates can help when planning necessary works on infrastructure, or programming a flight route for regular monitoring via drone. Unsurprisingly, depending on the model these versatile helpers can reach anywhere up to the price of a small car.

Centrally organized drone airline

hydrone is Axpo’s own centrally organized drone airline. More than 50 different units are on stand-by for a wide range of different assignments and not just for the facilities owned by the Axpo Group. These serve external facilities like the Gösgen and Leibstadt nuclear power plants, in which Axpo is a shareholder, as well as other electricity distributors and suppliers, such as the Hinterrhein or EWA energieUri power plants, too.

hydrone’s job is to provide operators of critical infrastructure with step-by-step assistance in the professional use of drones. hydrone guides users through the jungle of regulatory requirements, trials new technologies, takes care of drone certification and provides pilots with on-site support during complex drone assignments. 

Platform with roughly 120 pilots

The “pilot-in-chief”, initiator and driving force behind hydrone is Klaus Liedtke, Digital Transformation Project Manager at Axpo Power. “As simple as it might look to fly drones, using them properly is anything but straightforward. The laws and regulations are changing constantly. You need to stay up to date and adhere strictly to the regulations. That’s not to mention the rapid pace of technological advances in hardware and software,” he says. Around 120 pilots are connected to the platform. They receive training and their knowledge and skills are refined to ensure they can operate drones safely and in compliance with the regulations of Swiss and European airspace. The pilots are also given support on site where necessary. 

hydrone doesn’t “just” train the pilots, Axpo also trains the drones themselves – or, to put it more accurately, the machine learning algorithms developed in-house for them, guaranteeing extensive drone knowledge and a broad range of support services under one roof at Axpo. And word has gotten out: more and more external parties are enlisting hydrone in their projects.