Drones in the Energy Industry

The Survey:

In our ongoing efforts to highlight insights of the commercial drone space, the teams of the Energy Drone Coalition and DRONEII.com created a joint report: “Drones in the Energy Industry”.

This report displays the current pulse of drones in the energy industry and shall serve as an industry-specific benchmark. In other words, this report enables readers to learn about the “what”, the “how” and the “when” of drones in the energy industry. Furthermore, the collected data will be also used as a basis for further research activities to assess the future development of this market.

A representative mix of representatives from this industry was invited to participate in this study. This contains companies using drones as well as drone-as-a-service providers (DSPs).

This survey was created in July 2018 and distributed within the Energy Drone Coalition network in the North-American region with 214 total surveys completed. The survey is planned to be conducted again in 2019 in order to assess operational changes and technological developments of commercial drones in the energy industry.

Drones in the Energy Industry – Highlights:

• Around two-thirds of the energy companies who respond to the survey are currently operating drones
• 50% set up drone operation in-house
• While most energy companies have established a drone department/division, the operation of drones in the energy industry is predominantly in the “Proof of Concept” phase (60% have less than 10 flights per month)
• Multi-copters are the most utilized drone configuration. The energy sector utilizes infrared sensors quite often compared to other industry sectors
• Endurance, range, reliability and flexible utilization are the core developments required by the respondents to grow or scale their drone operation
• The energy sector is strongly focused on drones for maintenance and inspection applications and is keen to increase research & development efforts for BVLOS operation

Drones in the energy industry are a powerful tool with massive room for growth still ahead. The report showcases these insights precisely and in detail.

To learn more about drones in the energy industry reach out via [email protected]