ComEd tries out herbicide-via-drone for vegetation management in Illinois

Through a pilot program launched in August, ComEd deployed drones equipped with herbicide to handle vegetation management across two acres of right-of-way land in Forest View, Ill.

“Through the hard work of our 6,200 employees and continued, prudent investment in the grid, we’re delivering record-breaking reliability to the families and businesses we serve,” said Michelle Blaise, senior vice president of technical services at ComEd, said. “As a result of our team’s innovative thinking, ComEd is the first Midwest utility to utilize drones in our vegetation management program to more efficiently and more safely mitigate the threat of power outages due to plant growth or overgrowth around our power lines.”

The drones dumped 0.75 gallons of herbicide over the affected area in 45 minutes – a project that would have taken a human crew approximately two days and eight gallons of herbicide. That swap appears to have paid off for the company, which reported success following an inspection this week. While such drone deployments will continue to be refined, ComEd noted that this means drone usage will expand to other areas in the future.

ComEd’s transmission power lines and right-of-way lands cover approximately 65,000 acres in need of routine vegetation management. Much of this is natural prairie, which, to be maintained, requires the elimination of non-native vegetation and the restoration/cultivation of native seeds. The Forest View site is in the process of being converted to a natural prairie and was full of dense vegetation, including buckthorn, box elder, and mulberry plants at the time of testing.

Drones used for this pilot were operated by the Davey Resource Group, equipped with a ComEd herbicide mixture approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).