State Grid Jinchang Power Supply Company: Technology Empowers a Smarter Power Grid

JINCHANG, China, Nov. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, a multi-rotor UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) flew steadily along a preset route, conducting refined autonomous inspections on the 330-kilovolt transmission lines of State Grid Jinchang Power Supply Company. By leveraging technological empowerment, the company has strengthened the "safety net" for power grid operations, injecting robust innovative momentum into the stable and secure operation of the power grid during the winter peak load period.

Transmission line corridors feature complex and diverse environments, often spanning highways, railways, power lines of varying voltage levels, and tree-growing areas. The safe distance at these "crossing points" is crucial to ensuring the reliable operation of the power grid. Insufficient distances, exacerbated by external factors such as strong winds and high temperatures, can easily trigger discharges, short circuits, and other accidents. Minor incidents may lead to line tripping and regional power outages, while severe cases could spark wildfires, posing a serious threat to public safety. Previously, traditional inspections relied primarily on line patrol personnel using binoculars, rangefinders, and other tools for ground measurements. This approach not only suffered from low efficiency and high labor intensity but also frequently resulted in measurement errors due to topographical constraints, making it difficult to detect potential hidden hazards in a timely manner and leaving risks to grid safety.

To fully address this industry challenge, the Transmission Operation and Maintenance Center of the company took proactive steps to innovate, actively introducing intelligent UAV inspection technology and initiating a smart transformation from "human-based defense" to "technology-based defense"—a significant breakthrough in the field of power grid inspections. The UAVs deployed by the center are equipped with high-definition visible light cameras and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) devices.

At the operation site, maintenance personnel only need to preset the flight path, and the UAV can independently complete a series of operations including takeoff and line patrol. Its high-precision positioning system works in tandem with LiDAR to instantly capture the 3D spatial coordinates of crossing points, generating high-definition point cloud models and orthophotos in real time. Through precise post-processing with professional software, the net distance between any two points can be calculated with centimeter-level accuracy, marking a qualitative leap compared to traditional measurement methods.

With technological innovation as its core, the Transmission Operation and Maintenance Center has driven the transformation of power grid inspection models. Utilizing innovative technologies, the center has completed inspections of 442.28 kilometers of key transmission corridors, accurately identified, and successfully addressed 7 potential safety hazards related to insufficient crossing distances. These achievements fully demonstrate the practical effectiveness of technological innovation in power grid operation and maintenance.

SOURCE State Grid Jinchang Power Supply Company