this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
54 points (79.3% liked)

Technology

59534 readers
3195 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

’Magic balls’ installed by drones may soon be revolutionizing the US power grid: 'Unrivaled quality at scale'::High-voltage power lines in the United States will soon be monitored by “magic balls” from Norway.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The ones you've seen are probably just simple markers to help low flying aircraft (crop dusters, helicopters, etc) see the power lines.

WA has a... unique energy grid. AFAIK you've basically only got a proper grid for the south west quarter of your state, which is not even connected to most (by area, not population) of WA, let alone part of the national grid. Most of Australia, even Tasmania, is on a national grid which transmits power over very long distances and that's where power line management becomes especially important.

The WA grid also doesn't actually need to transmit much power, since virtually all of the power consumption is in Perth which has several local redundant power supplies. It's really only small towns that would ever need to get their power from any significant distance.

[–] palitu@aussie.zone 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Most remote capital in the world checking in!

Yeah, the SWIS is totally isolated from any other grid, meaning it cannot rely on interconnects to help with variable generation.

There is starting to be a coal generation issue coming up!

No crop dusters in the city, but potentially, as it is not too far from Jandakot airport.

I will ask some mate what they recon. They work in the industry. If I go past I'll take a photo for you.

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago

Was in WA recently on a holiday and was wondering what those things were! Was surprised to see so many interesting sights to see there though, like the Pinnacles for instance. What impressed me the most though was being able to get a haircut - and a pretty good one at that - for just $15! Here in NZ it costs at least $30 for a decent haircut, which I now feel is a massive ripoff.