Technology at the service of energy

Technological developments are undoubtedly an engine of development for society, not only economically, but socially. This is the case of drone technology, the latest advance in the fields of robotics, aeronautics and electronics. Of course, it was not invented overnight; it took a little more than a couple of years of research and work to achieve what we now know as a drone. However, it was not until 2018 that it became popular, the year that drones took off in the world. From heavy industries such as mining and construction, through trade, agriculture, security, and even for personal enjoyment, this device has found a place in almost all areas of life.

The energy business has not been an exception, and at Enel-Codensa we have been able to use drones to improve our operations in cities and municipalities, allowing us to connect people living in remote areas to the electric service, and to performs such jobs in less time and in a safer way for our technicians and field staff.

BRINGING ENERGY TO DIFFICULT ACCESS ZONES

When only daylight is available, life can be quite limited. In the villages of Gibraltar and La Romanza, located in the mountainous immensities of the municipality of Ubalá in Cundinamarca, the day began at 4 a.m. Children started school at 8 o'clock in the morning, not before because the majority of them live one or two hours away, and there is no light on the trails they have to walk. They finished classes at one o'clock in the afternoon, and would barely have time to return home and complete their homework, before the sun was down. Usually they did not have very complex tasks, their teacher preferred to given them simple homework so that they would not have to stay up late studying and straining their sight by the absence of light.

Understanding that difficult access has prevented the energy service from reaching many places in Colombia, we have looked for different alternatives to give energy to these communities, and we have made this possible through the use of technologies such as drones. In doing so we have made the dream of villages like Gibraltar and La Romanza become a reality, as now they have energy in their homes to do regular activities such as watching television for the first time.

“This has been a change from heaven to earth because we could not connect a refrigerator, you could not buy food for more than two days or otherwise it would go bad, and the meat had to be salted so that it would not decompose”

– Herlintón González, inhabitant of the community.

With this project we brought electricity to 58 farms in the rural area of these villages, for which it was even necessary to use a helicopter to transport the materials due to the difficult terrain. Carrying out the network wiring using a guiding drone took only about five hours, when previously doing this in a traditional way could take up to two and a half days, since the crews had to transport the cable on foot, pass it over each tree and mountain that was in the way, running the risk of entanglement in bushes, a challenging scenario, since the only solution was to untangle it manually.

DRONES THAT PROTECT THE ELECTRICAL SERVICE

Connecting communities to electric power is not the only task that drones have, we also use them to remove foreign elements in the power line that may affect the energy flow. Mostly, they are used in the wind season, between the end of July and the beginning of September, which is when people come out to fly their kites in the city.

In Bogota, the Enel-Codensa crews have used the "dragon drone" to support and expedite their work. This is a type of drone that shoots fire, incinerates the object and allows it to be removed in approximately 5 minutes, without the need to suspend the energy service, and without putting our people at risk.

During the wind season, we have removed around 2,400 kites from the electricity grids, and the use of this drone has allowed us to do it in a shorter timeframe and more efficiently.

Thanks to the incorporation of these technologies in our operation, we are optimizing our work, allowing more and more people in different parts of the country to connect to the electric service and ensuring that those who already have access to it can continue to enjoy it without interruptions. The goal is to continue incorporating innovations that allow us to optimize our processes more and more, in order to provide our customers with a better service every day and at all times.