KenGen Buys Two Drones For Ksh 28.7 Million To Monitor Their Plants

Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) and the leading electric power generating company in East Africa has bought two drones to inspect its plants at its Olkaria geothermal fields in Naivasha at a cost of Shs 28.7 million.

The company said that the high-end unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), would be deployed in the vast Olkaria Fields for surveillance.

“They are high-end drones which can transmit high-quality images and  will be deployed in the Olkaria Fields to help in operations and maintenance,” said  KenGen

KenGen now joins the many other companies around the globe that have embraced and successfully used drones in their operations.

The commercial adoption of drones is growing quickly, and organizations are already seeing improvements in worker safety, operational efficiency, and data quality.

Drones provide a practical solution for the inspection of all kinds of infrastructure and worksites, among many other things. They are well-suited to replace work that would otherwise require climbing or traversing large areas of terrain, making them a particularly useful tool at power generation facilities.

Before adopting the use of drones, the likes of  KenGen and Kenya Power largely used helicopters to inspect their critical infrastructure. But flying robots that can travel dozens of kilometers without stopping are seen as the next big thing for power companies.

Thermal and zoom imaging placed on drones can help detect defects that then can be fixed before they become a problem, according to experts.

Firms such as Italy’s Snam, the biggest ga utility in Europe, and French Energy utility are just but examples of firms that have tested prototypes of long-distance drones that fly at low altitudes over pipelines and power lines successfully.