State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co Ltd is increasing efforts to leverage advanced technologies for grid maintenance to boost power supply efficiency as part of the country's efforts to enhance the grid's capacity to integrate increasing power generated from intermittent new energy sources.

The company's subsidiary – State Grid Jiaxing Power Supply Co, is increasingly adopting drones in its AI-based defect screening system that was employed to evaluate power transmission line conditions.

The drone-empowered inspection system was developed using the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power's AI platform. The system uploads photos captured by the drones to the AI platform, identifies defect locations, labels defect types, and assesses reliability levels. It records the newly collected information and auto-generates detailed defect reports for further manual review.

By leveraging AI technologies, the system cuts defect screening time from 4-5 hours to just 2-3 hours and can process up to 1,000 photos per operation. This advancement not only broadens defect detection capabilities but also lessens the staff members' workload, according to State Grid Jiaxing Power Supply Co.

After manual re-verification from workers, the system can achieve a 100 percent accuracy rate in identifying defects, said the company.