Back to Basics: Emerging Tech, Best Practices in Wood Pole Inspections for Electric Cooperatives

7-minute read

In this article:

• Learn how technologies in wood pole inspections for electric cooperatives can improve the efficiency and accuracy of inspections.
• Learn about key emerging technologies in wood pole inspections: drone aerial inspections, non-destructive inspection testing, and digital inspection tools.
• Learn how these technologies can benefit electric cooperatives by reducing overall inspection costs, improving safety and reliability, and providing a better overall view of their infrastructure.

Electric cooperatives across the country rely on wood poles for electric distribution. That’s why wood pole inspections are critical: they help to maintain the reliability and safety of electric service across a given cooperative. Inspections identify potential issues before they become safety hazards or service interruptions.

However, for many of the cooperatives, ongoing inspections are labor-intensive, costly, and difficult. Even a smaller cooperative with hundreds of poles can be a daunting inspection process for ground crews – especially in hard-to-reach areas. Unfortunately, for decades, the reality for cooperatives was to pay the cost of traditional inspections or to risk demand outages and put their communities and members at risk.

Today, electric cooperatives have better choices that can decrease their overall inspection costs, improve safety and reliability, and gain a better overall view of their infrastructure. Let’s take a closer look at some of the emerging technology and best practices that are available to cooperatives of all sizes.

Drone Aerial Inspections

Drones, or uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), equipped with high-resolution cameras can quickly and efficiently assess the overall condition of wood poles. Inspection experts utilize drones to identify potential issues such as damage, decay, or woodpecker damage. Drones inspect poles in hard-to-reach or dangerous areas, such as along steep hillsides or in densely forested areas. They can also cover large areas quickly and efficiently, reducing the time and cost of inspections. 

Check out our video that highlights the Constellation Clearsight Aerial Inspection difference:

Drones provide high-quality images, which are analyzed to identify issues with the poles. They “see” what ground crews cannot, such as rot happening from the pole top for example. 

Related: Drones Can Boost Efficiency & Improve Safety in Utility Pole Aerial Inspections 

Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) Testing of Wood Poles

In addition to aerial inspections (drones), technologies to protect wood pole integrity are also advancing.

Sound-and-bore is the traditional wood pole inspection method to assess the internal condition of poles. The problem is that each inspection literally “takes a chunk” out of the wood pole. Over time, sound-and-bore can potentially threaten the integrity of the wood pole.

At Clearsight, we utilize a non-destructive inspection (NDI) testing device that assesses the internal condition of wood poles without leaving bore holes. Clearsight NDI uses a “needle” to probe the wood pole and then employs a high-frequency electromagnetic signal to detect the presence of decay within the pole or other internal defects.

Clearsight NDI is highly accurate and efficient, allowing cooperatives to identify potential issues before they become safety hazards. This technology has greatly improved the overall quality of data received from inspections as it provides consistent and repeatable results.

Digital Platforms & Automation

An additional advancement in technology is the inspection analysis itself. Traditional ground crew inspections are resource intensive. After an inspection, someone must make sense of all the findings. This can be a near-impossible task. With the deployment of digital inspection tools such as drones and NDI devices, findings can be quickly organized and prioritized using automation.

A digital platform can use data from previous inspections to help a cooperative identify which utility poles require immediate treatment, which ones are decaying at a faster rate, and provide an overall assessment of the health of the system.

We provide our cooperative customers a unified, online platform experience where they can visualize on a geographic map all of their inspections. They can also quickly identify high priority issues, drill down to the latest inspection, and view issues captured in high-quality photos.

Related: Constellation Clearsight’s Methodology: Digital Utility Line Inspection Services

Coupled together, these technologies are setting the foundation of electric cooperative inspection best practices. By utilizing them, electric cooperatives ensure the continued reliability of wood poles and their electric distribution systems. Using these methods empowers identification of potential issues before they become safety hazards. In turn, this reduces the risk of outages and ensures the safety of members and employees.

Why Constellation Clearsight?

While the use of these inspection tools can greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of wood pole inspections, many electric cooperatives do not have the resources to build out their own drone programs or invest in expensive inspection tools. 

For cooperatives looking to reduce costs and improve their inspection programs, we recommend working with a trusted, expert inspection company that has certified drone operators and access to advanced inspection technology. By working with an expert inspection company, electric cooperatives can benefit from the latest inspection technology without the need to invest in expensive equipment and significant training programs to develop their own drone program. 

Contact our experts today to learn more about how we can help you build or improve your sustainable inspection program. Be sure to check out our additional installments of the “Back to Basics” series, where we discuss foundational topics in the world of electric infrastructure, including the impact and importance of wood pole inspections and data management.

Related: Constellation Clearsight’s Methodology: Digital Utility Line Inspection Services