22 Jul Third Contract with National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) now underway

Posted at 15:32h in News by

Our third contract with National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) is progressing well. This contract follows two years of work with NGET; together, we are working to develop a UAV inspection system to maturity, with a view to deploying it across critical national infrastructure.

Our work with NGET began with a 12-month trial of an automated corrosion-detection system – the first project of its kind ever conducted on the National Grid. Through a collaboration with Keen AI, sees.ai established a system of autonomous drones flown ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ (BVLOS) from a remote operations centre. These drones gather detailed close-quarter visual data across multiple pylons, which is then analysed with artificial intelligence. 

Today, NGET operates over 21000 high voltage transmission pylons, and over 7000km of line. However, due to worldwide Net Zero targets, the grid is set to expand – at the rate not seen since the 1950s. While this growth takes place, operators must manage a mid-century grid, which is rapidly aging and under more pressure than ever. The current inspection regime will not be enough to facilitate a smooth transition.

Usually, monitoring and analysis is done by humans, single-pylon manual drone flights and helicopters. Yet these methods pose safety and efficiency issues, and can’t achieve certain complex missions; such as close-quarter inspection, or viewing assets from below. Our project provides NGET with proof that BVLOS drones are safe, scalable, cost-effective, and provide better data than legacy methods alone. 

Our focus on demonstrating proof secured sees.ai a UK-first BVLOS flight permission from the UK CAA: one of the most respected (and therefore most rigorous) aviation authorities in the world. This project will allow us to prove we are ready for further expansion, by:

  •     Demonstrating fast, scalable flight over multiple towers
  •     Developing data transfer with our partners at Keen AI
  •     Establishing standardised training for third-party drone pilots
  •     Expanding our CAA permission further across the NGET network

By the end of this 10-month project (early 2025), our system will be stronger than ever – ready for testing and evaluation by the National Grid drone team.  Although we may not be ready for deployment across the entire UK network yet, this is a giant step towards our next goal: a fully automated, future-ready grid powered by sees.ai technology.