Hundreds of autonomous drones to monitor Florida electric utility

Florida Power & Light (FPL), which serves more than 11 million people in Florida, is deploying autonomous drones across the state to monitor substations and power distribution grids. The electric utility has tied up with drone-in-a-box solutions provider Percepto for what is being hailed as “the largest commercial autonomous drone project in the world.”

The plan is to deploy 13 autonomous drones initially, with hundreds more getting added to the network over the next five years. The drones in operation across the state will be coordinated on a single platform through Percepto’s Autonomous Inspection and Monitoring (AIM) solution, which was named one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2021 by Time magazine.

These drones will ensure that the state’s electrical infrastructure is monitored constantly, providing residents with more reliable service with power back online faster after outages.

It works in FPL’s favor that Percepto’s drone-in-a-box solution…