- A helicopter was transferred to the islands for the first time to digitalise and analyse the state of health of Endesa's medium-voltage electricity networks with a view to prevention.
- For four months it will travel over almost 6,000 kilometres of power lines using the latest technology that enables them to obtain high-resolution 3D images.
Until the end of March and for a period of four months, which started in December last year, the Canary Islands will be using a helicopter contracted by Endesa and equipped with the latest technology. For the first time this will enable the medium voltage electricity networks on the islands to be minutely inspected as part of the 'Network Digital Twin' project financed by Endesa. So far, the helicopter has already detected and corrected 49 issues observed on the lines and 39 situations where vegetation has encroached on turrets and other electrical elements.
Working from the air enables aerial inspections to detect possible defects in the networks and to determine their true state of health. The helicopter participating in this project plans to travel over 5,783 kilometres of medium voltage overhead electricity networks, almost all of those existing in the Canary Islands, and will combine the inspection with the work of digitalising and geolocating the power lines. It will also enable the establishment of an inventory for the Endesa network, the detection of encroachment of masses of vegetation on towers and the prevention of possible fires, as well as the location of what experts call hot spots through thermal imaging cameras capable of detecting a minimum rise of five degrees, analysing the cause and acting immediately to avoid incidents in the electricity network.
So far, Endesa has already taken the pulse of 60 percent of its electricity networks from the air, leaving the remaining 40 percent pending, which is mainly concentrated on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. The itinerary established by Endesa in the Canary Islands to inspect its networks from the air includes 2,004.12 kilometres of electricity networks in Tenerife, 539.55 in Lanzarote, 413.37 in La Palma, 205.64 in La Gomera, 1,830.78 in Gran Canaria, 662.56 in Fuerteventura and 127.14 in El Hierro.
The helicopter used is red and white, flies low and is renowned for following the path of power lines through ravines, mountains and all kinds of places on flights that sometimes seem more typical of a real acrobat of the sky. At the controls of the helicopter the pilot, Pascual Oliva, one of the few pilots in Spain trained to undertake this type of surveillance and who flies over the electrical networks all over Spain, has the most advanced technology in cameras on board the helicopter.
This morning, Pascual left the El Berriel aerodrome, in Maspalomas, to make an exhaustive inspection from the helicopter of the power lines in the ravines of the south and southeast of Gran Canaria. Pascual was accompanied by Francisco Belmar and Diego Acosta who are also members of the team. The team that undertakes this type of flights consists of a pilot, a mechanic, three operators and a support vehicle. The helicopter has room for up to seven people. They fly six hours daily in intervals consisting of three cycles, and each time they return to land they unload the abundant high-resolution documentary material obtained every two hours.
The value of the helicopter and the latest technology it has installed to photograph from the air obtaining 3D images of the power lines in the Canary Islands amounts to two million euros. It is equipped with a LIDAR device or laser scanner, a thermal imaging camera, photographic camera and a 4K video. The LIDAR device enables the creation of a cloud of points with the status of the network and provides 3-D visualisation.
Pascual Oliva, the pilot of the Endesa helicopter, explained that in the Canary Islands "the variable weather on the same island causes a certain amount of problems when it comes to digitalising the electricity networks from the air". He also brought our attention to the orography of Tenerife and the ravines on Gran Canaria as another of the causes that can cause more problems on this type of flights. They recently had to suspend a number of flights as a result of the high incidence of the haze that caused visibility problems and that constitutes a corrosive element for certain parts of the device.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribución and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, Europe’s largest electricity group.