A drone performs power inspection in eastern Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The State Grid Inner Mongolia Eastern Electric Power Co announced that as of March 15, the power inspection mileage of autonomous drones in the eastern region of Inner Mongolia has surpassed 200,000 kilometers, equivalent to circling the earth five times.

The company has significantly enhanced power supply security and stability by integrating drone technology with artificial intelligence (AI), Beidou positioning, and other advanced technologies.

Inner Mongolia's vast territories present challenges for power grid maintenance, with long supply radii, widely distributed lines, and complex corridor environments. Traditional manual inspections are often limited by terrain conditions and personnel skill levels, resulting in inefficiencies and inconsistent inspection quality.

State Grid Inner Mongolia Eastern Electric Power Co staff operate drones. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

To address these issues, the company developed a low-cost, fully autonomous, and large-scale drone inspection system, which has been widely deployed in distribution network operations and maintenance since early 2024.

Equipped with AI-powered analysis, drones can identify power line paths, plan flight routes, and detect 14 types of anomalies and equipment defects. Compared to manual inspections, drone inspections have improved efficiency by 45 percent, increased defect detection speed tenfold, and more than doubled defect identification rates, significantly reducing the workload of frontline staff.

Adaptive drone inspection technology has been fully implemented across the eastern Inner Mongolia power grid.

State Grid Inner Mongolia Eastern Electric Power Co staff operate drones. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]