Dominion Energy gets BVLOS waiver for Skydio drone inspections

Leading US power utility Dominion Energy has obtained a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver to operate open-ended beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) inspections at over 40 plants using drones from Skydio, whose regulatory team helped secure the approval.

Dominion obtained the waiver under the FAA’s BEYOND program, and will use it to deploy Skydio x2 drones to conduct BVLOS inspections at facilities in Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The company, which provides power to 7 million customers in 13 states, has steadily expanded its deployment of UAVs since first introducing them in 2014.

The exemption will permit Dominion pilots to fly drones in BVLOS inspection missions relying on Skydio X2’s artificial intelligence-based autonomous flight engine. That tech will ensure automatic 360-degree obstacle avoidance in close proximity to often difficult-to-access power plant…