Privacy, Safety and Drones: PG&E is not interested in your yard art

In coming weeks and days, Humboldt County residents may notice PG&E workers in hardhats and neon yellow vests around electric poles and towers using drone technology to assess its assets before fire season sets in. Don’t worry, says PG&E Spokesperson Andria Borba, “We’re not looking in your backyard. We’re not interested in your house. We’re not interested in your family. We’re not interested in your yard. We are strictly looking at the electrical structures on our wooden poles.”

Local residents have expressed concerns about their privacy when drones are used to capture imagery from an aerial perspective, because of this, PG&E decided to offer a demo for local media, in order to show the process of flying the drone and snapping images from a bird’s eye view of the electrical structures. Those images collected by PG&E are kept confidential, and are not made public for general viewing.

However, PG&E drone pilot and Manager of Special Operations, Vinh Nguyen demonstrated how he is able to use the drone to get a clear view of any piece of equipment by using drone technology, and was able to provide some footage for public review. “We are interested in our hardware, and our hardware only,” said Nguyen, adding, “we can zoom in down to the nuts and bolts and see the thread on the actual hardware itself, so it’s a very detailed inspection, and that’s all we’re focused on.”

Here, drone pilot Vinh Nguyen on PG&E’s drone technology, and how it is helpful to the electric company. [Video by Ryan Hutson, with drone footage provided by Nguyen/PG&E]

According to Borba, the use of drones rather than linemen in conducting inspections of the equipment lol not improves safety, but also allows repairs to be made much more efficiently. Borba explained, “We are taking these photos to make the system safer, quicker. In the past, you would have had to have a lineworker climb each of these poles and structures to inspect the assets on top of these poles. Now we get a bird’s eye view.”

Janet Henkai, Supervisor of Aerial & Special Inspections for PG&E assured reporters at the demo, “We are respecting our customers and residents’ privacy, and we’re not taking any photos of private property or anything other than just our specific pieces of equipment that are out there.”

When asked if a backyard garden, cannabis or otherwise, would be of any concern to PG&E, Henkai replied, “No, that is not. We’re only looking at our equipment and nothing else.”

Interviews with PG&E Spokesperson Andria Borba and Supervisor of Aerial & Special Inspections Janet Henkai, about what the drones are and are not doing in your neighborhood. [Video by Ryan Hutson, with drone footage provided by Nguyen/PG&E]

Henkai added, “We only want a narrowed in crisp photo of our assets… Any background photos actually are not helpful, so really, [we’re] just focusing in on those pieces of wire conductor or hardware on our structures.” Additionally, they made it clear that questions and conversation with a drone pilot are welcome, as long as the pilot can land the drone without distraction, first.

The clarity of the images is a huge part of why the drones are being used. Borba explained that the visual detail in the drone’s photos is useful, noting, “We can see the threads on a bolt.” She added, “If the threads on a bolt are not good, we can have a tag, a ticket made that day for that piece of infrastructure to be repaired, and therefore the system is instantly safer.”

PG&E’s Vinh Nguyen provided some footage from the demo flight, to show the public what the quality of the footage looks like, and to demonstrate that the drone camera is focused on the electrical equipment, rather than on the ground below. [Drone footage by Nguyen]

Nguyen, who has been a drone pilot since 2017, also explained that with the development of new technology, safety is improved for PG&E workers who no longer must physically climb the poles. After landing the drone and completing the demonstration outside of Eureka on Wednesday, Nguyen said that changing the way the infrastructure is monitored by using the drones has led to additional aerial operations team members being needed to conduct the work. “As far as replacing people, every technology is going to have values and return on efficiency, but so far, I’ve only seen more people being required in this new field, and it’s more like a tool in your tool belt.”

As a drone pilot, Nguyen was a fan of the efficiency factor, and noted that work-related accidents are not conducive to efficient operations. “At the center of efficiency is safety. So we prioritize doing anything safely, because without safety, there is no efficiency. Safety and efficiency go hand in hand for all our operations.” According to PG&E, relying on a machine to get the job done with human oversight is a win-win for workers and for the public, as fire season looms.