Using AI-powered asset analytics from drone inspection delivers benefits across the whole inspection process:

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• Arkion quickly found and prioritized 5x the number of defects and potential issues when compared with traditional inspection and analysis. 
• The maintenance manager was able to spot and address the acute risk posed by a fallen line, before it could cause harm. 
• Increased operational efficiency, with Arkion integrated into their AMS to create prioritized, detailed work orders without adding more processes or workload.

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The challenges

E.On Sweden was looking for a way to make its line inspections safer and more efficient, with a view toward a more sustainable, future-ready grid. They knew that using drones to gather images and LiDAR data is safer and more thorough. But it also generates an enormous amount of information, all of which needs to be analyzed and prioritized.  

In 2020, they started working with Arkion because they believed its powerful visualization software would help with routine inspections.  

“Arkion has always been an innovative company. We started working with them when they just launched. We have now been working with them for three years, and have seen how quickly their AI capabilities have developed, in terms of both detecting power line components and defects. Arkion’s solution will play an important part in enabling power grid inspections to be more safe, efficient and sustainable.” - Per Sundqvist, Maintenance Specialist

The results

In addition to quickly experiencing efficiency gains and better information, they were able to shift away from reactive maintenance, and toward a more strategic, resilience-focused preventive approach—without losing the ability to act quickly on critical faults.

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Immediate risk mitigation

During the inspection phase, drones gathered sensor data: high-resolution photos, thermal images, and LiDAR data. This was all uploaded to the Arkion platform for analysis. Anything that appeared as an anomaly was inspected further by AI-assisted humans. All detected defects, issues, and faults were labeled and prioritized by severity. 

In this case, Arkion detected a fallen wire hanging a meter above the ground. This posed an acute, potentially critical risk to the public. Because the platform immediately reports any critical risks it finds, it was automatically flagged to the customer’s operations center. They seamlessly created a work order, together with photos and a precise location, and sent a team to fix it before anyone could get hurt.  

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Made maintenance more cost-effective 

Because Arkion can quickly and accurately analyze enormous amounts of sensor data, E.On was able to get a complete view of components, and find 5 times the number of defects and other issues over the entire grid, when compared with conventional line inspection methods—all from the office.  

This helped them avoid breakdowns that cause outages, and it made it easier to group maintenance tasks geographically, which can mean less downtime for repairs. 

“They took our maintenance from 1990 to 2030.”

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Enabled safer, more efficient operations

Arkion’s prioritization made it easier to plan repairs and replacement over time, and address the most critical issues immediately, without changing existing processes. 

With a custom asset management system integration, they could use Arkion’s results to quickly create and batch work orders. And because they knew in advance what they would encounter, workers were able to arrive at the locations prepared, with the right equipment, making the process safer, too. 

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Enabled sustainable investments

Electricity demands are predicted to double by 2045. Grid resilience is an important part of a sustainable future. This requires clear models of asset lifetimes, preventive maintenance, continuous improvement work, and rapid responses to outages and downtime. 

Arkion makes it easy to see the whole grid, spot areas of concern, and prioritize repairs and upgrades, all in the same tool. E.On is using Arkion’s grid intelligence in its work to meet the demands of the electrified future.  

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