Utilities Are Turning to Drones—Here’s What Dominion Energy Is Doing

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Faced with aging infrastructure, volatile weather, and tight budgets, utility companies are being pushed to rethink how they inspect, monitor, and maintain their assets. The answer, increasingly, is taking to the skies. Across the utility industry, drones are quickly shifting from experimental gadgets to essential operational tools.

Why Drones?

Utilities operate massive networks—transmission lines that stretch for hundreds of miles, substations in remote locations, solar farms covering acres, and critical power generation facilities that demand constant oversight. Traditional methods of inspection, like truck rolls, helicopters, or manual climbs, are not only costly and time-consuming but also introduce safety risks and operational disruptions.

Drones change the equation.

Equipped with high-resolution cameras, thermal sensors, LiDAR, and other measurement tools, drones offer a faster, safer, and more cost-effective way to monitor infrastructure. They’re able to capture detailed visual data, identify faults or hot spots, and reach hard-to-access areas—all while keeping workers safely on the ground.

And the technology is only getting better. Autonomous drones, capable of navigating complex environments and charging themselves without human input, are poised to further streamline operations. With onboard edge computing, they can analyze images in real-time, detect anomalies, and sync data directly with asset management platforms—cutting down the time between inspection and action.

Doing More with Less

A recurring challenge for utilities is doing more with limited resources—especially as seasoned workers retire, costs climb, and the demand for reliable service grows. What used to take a crew of workers an entire day—like inspecting a substation—can now be done in a few hours with a drone.

“The payoff for using drones is they are a workforce multiplier,” Christina Park, senior director of utility strategy at Skydio, told the American Public Power Association. “With the same workforce, you can accomplish exponentially more work.”

This isn't just about speed. Drones also support smarter maintenance. Rather than following rigid inspection schedules, utilities can use drones to enable condition-based maintenance—checking assets more frequently and responding only when needed. That kind of targeted action reduces unnecessary work, extends equipment life, and lowers the chance of outages. 

And it’s a way to improve inspection outcomes with existing resources. “There are just not enough people or trucks or work hours to inspect all the assets,” said Park. “They can use technology to bridge that gap.”

From Flyability

A Real-World Example: Dominion Energy’s Drone Programs

Dominion Energy isn’t just experimenting with drones. It’s operationalizing them at scale. With one of the most mature drone programs in the utility sector, Dominion has gone from basic visual inspections to deploying drones across virtually every part of its infrastructure. Their approach shows how drones can move from novel to normal—and deliver measurable impact along the way.

Dominion began using drones in 2014 to inspect electric transmission assets. What started as a way to reduce the number of dangerous tower climbs quickly revealed broader potential. Over time, they expanded drone use to include supporting operations at solar farms, inspecting tall structures, and tracking construction progress. Here’s a rundown of a few ways Dominion uses drones to keep workers safe, improve operations, and collect better data.

Faster, Safer Solar Panel Inspections

At Dominion’s solar farms, thermal imaging drones are replacing handheld camera manual inspections. What used to take multiple workers several hours can now be done by a single drone flight in a fraction of the time. These drones quickly detect heat anomalies that signal faulty panels, which allows maintenance teams to respond faster and minimize downtime.

Storm Damage Assessment in Minutes

After major weather events, Dominion deploys drones to assess storm damage in real-time. Instead of waiting for safe human access or relying on helicopters, drone pilots can quickly survey blocked or hazardous areas, identify broken lines or poles, and help crews plan their repair work safely and efficiently. These aerial views also allow for better prioritization of restoration efforts, accelerating power recovery.

High-Risk Inspections Without the Risk

One of Dominion’s most advanced use cases is in power generation and nuclear plant inspections. Using confined space drones like the Elios 3, the company can inspect areas that are dangerous—or even impossible—for humans to enter while equipment is running. 

The drones are equipped with LiDAR and radiation detection payloads to keep workers safe. These tools can operate in GPS-denied environments to provide detailed visuals and measurements without requiring a full or partial plant shutdown. Using drones for inspections reduces both operational risk and inspection time while keeping personnel out of radioactive zones and at-ground level. 

Monitoring Construction and Project Progress

Drones are also playing a role on Dominion’s construction sites. Before ground is broken, drones survey terrain for mapping and modeling. During the build, they provide consistent aerial documentation of progress, safety conditions, and equipment movement. This improves coordination among teams and helps ensure projects stay on schedule and within scope.

Beyond Visual Line of Sight: A New Era of Autonomy

Dominion is one of the few utilities in the country with FAA approval to operate drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This capability means drones can be launched without sending people into the field—an innovation that unlocks 24/7 monitoring and improves response time across large territories. It also paves the way for greater autonomy in the future.

What’s Next?

As more utilities follow in Dominion’s footsteps, drone programs will continue to evolve. The next frontier includes fully autonomous drones that handle everything from takeoff to data upload without human intervention. Add in AI-powered defect detection, secure data encryption, and real-time analytics, and the future of utility maintenance starts looking a lot like science fiction—only it's happening now.

Utilities embracing drones aren’t just adopting a new tool; they’re redesigning how their organizations function by replacing outdated, resource-heavy processes with modern, tech-driven solutions. And as the grid becomes more complex, the workforce makeup shifts, and customer expectations rise, doing more with these resources will be critical to keeping the lights on.

Playbook for Utility Drone Programs

Ready to put what you’ve learned into action? Whether you're starting small or looking to scale an existing drone program, here are the essential steps to help you build a smarter, safer, and more efficient utility operation using drones.

Start with a Strategic Use Case

Before buying hardware or hiring pilots, identify the problem you want to solve first. Ask:

  • Where are our inspection or maintenance bottlenecks?

  • What high-risk tasks could drones perform instead of people?

  • What outages or inefficiencies are costing us the most?

Good entry points: Asset inspections, substation checks, storm damage assessment, or solar array thermal imaging

Evaluate and Choose the Right Drone Technology

Not all drones are created equal. Consider:

  • Payloads: Do you need thermal, LiDAR, visual, or ultrasonic sensors?

  • Environment: Will it fly indoors, outdoors, in confined spaces?

  • Automation: Are autonomous flight and charging features important? What about onboard data processing?

  • Data Integration: Can the drone integrate with your asset management or GIS systems?

Start simple if needed, but plan for scalability.

Start Small, Then Expand Strategically

Don’t try to build a full-scale drone program overnight. Instead:

  • Launch a pilot project with a clear success metric (e.g., cut inspection time by 50%).

  • Use the results to validate ROI and secure additional funding.

  • Expand into additional use cases like storm damage assessment, confined space inspections, or construction monitoring.

  • Document wins and share results across departments to build momentum.

Set Up a Scalable Data Workflow

Drones generate a lot of data. Make sure you have a system in place to:

  • Store, process, and analyze images and sensor data

  • Integrate insights with asset management platforms

  • Use AI tools to flag anomalies and prioritize maintenance

  • Secure data transfer and access to meet compliance standards

Think Long-Term: Autonomy and Innovation

Plan for what’s next. Dominion Energy’s growth from transmission inspections to applications across operations shows the potential for expansion. As you grow:

  • Invest in automation-ready drones with edge computing capabilities

  • Explore regulatory pathways to BVLOS approvals

  • Track ROI metrics like reduced downtime, avoided truck rolls, improved safety

Build a roadmap that allows your drone program to evolve with the tech—and your utility’s needs.

Where can you connect and hear the latest case studies and best practices from the most power/utility UAV programs at one time, in one place?  This June 16-18 at the Energy Drone & Robotics Summit in the Woodlands will have over 1800 UAV leaders from 209 energy companies.