Case Study: American Electric Power saves $8M and speeds outage response with Skydio autonomous drones

American Electric Power saves $8M with Skydio drones

American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, faced a significant challenge in preventing and responding to infrastructure failures across its vast network. A specific nighttime static line failure that caused a major substation outage highlighted the need for a better method to conduct inspections, decrease operational costs, and lessen dangers for their field crews.

AEP deployed a Skydio drone equipped with AI technology to inspect the failed substation. This allowed crews to safely assess the damage from a distance. The drone's inspection not only pinpointed the initial failure but also identified another imminent issue that was impossible to see manually. The solution from Skydio saved AEP nearly $8 million in repair and outage costs and significantly reduced the time required to address the failure.

American Electric Power