The inspections will provide TLC with valuable information on the condition of electrical assets, helping us to identify areas needing maintenance, repairs, or even replacement.

The aerial inspections replace the time-consuming process of our crews manually inspecting hard-to-reach electrical equipment such as power poles. In the past, this took our team up to 15 years to reach every pole on the network.

The aircraft will cover locations across the entire TLC network, traversing around 4,000km of power lines throughout the operation.

Northern areas of the network will be covered first, covering northern parts of the King Country, including Taharoa, Te Kūiti, Whakamaru, Ōtorohanga, Piopio, Mangakino, Arohena, Mōkau, and Marakopa.

Flights will move south once the northern areas are complete. Southern inspections will include Taumarunui, Tūrangi, Motuapa, Kuratau, Tongapōrutu, Ōwhango, Ōhura, National Park, and Ohakune.

We will use a helicopter to fly over rural areas and drones for urban areas. We are using quieter drone aircraft in urban areas to minimise disruption.

The aircraft will inspect around 43,000 poles on the TLC network, including cross-arms, insulator conductors, pole top switches, and transformers.

The visual footage taken of our equipment will be stored securely for use by our network team. The content will provide our team with valuable information on the condition of electrical assets on the network, helping us to identify areas needing maintenance, repairs, or even replacement.

No. The drones and helicopters will take photos of our electricity poles only. No private images or private information will be collected or stored. All data will be stored in our secure systems with cyber security protection.

Flights will take approximately 8 weeks to complete, weather permitting. Once we have collected the pole top footage, it will take our team 6 months to analyse it.

Weather permitting, the inspections will begin in late January.

We aim to complete inspections by June. Keep in mind that weather conditions may delay flights.

TLC has contracted Highland Helicopters to carry out inspections by helicopter and Outdoor Accuracy to complete them by drone.

Yes. Whilst TLC often uses helicopters to conduct inspections, this combined helicopter and drone operation with visual images over an intense, 8-week period is new.

The helicopter will conduct a high-level pass over the area where our power poles and lines are situated. This is to check for potential hazards and livestock within the area. It also gives landowners a heads up that a survey is in progress. Once the check is complete and no hazards and livestock have been identified, the helicopter will survey the electrical assets at a low level.