Scottish Drone Firm Soars into UK Energy Awards Finals

A Scotland-based drone survey firm has been shortlisted for two British energy awards, solidifying UAV tech as a key component in energy innovation.

Cyberhawk made the final cut for Best Offshore Renewables Innovation and Best Safety Improvement categories for the UK Energy Innovation Awards 2017. Sponsored by the Energy Innovation Centre, the awards “celebrate the best new technologies and innovations that are having a positive impact on the UK energy industry and benefitting energy customers.”

Cyberhawk has grown into an industry leader in the drone inspection sector for solar, wind and oil/gas.

“We are delighted to be shortlisted in two categories, which is testament to the hard work of our team,” said Cyberhawk CEO Chris Fleming in a press release. “Having begun life almost 10 years ago, Cyberhawk has grown from strength to strength and we are now an internationally operating company working across a variety of sectors. Our whole team is proud to receive this recognition and we’re looking forward to the ceremony in a couple of months’ time.”

When it comes to energy-sector recognition, July has produced a bumper crop of awards for Cyberhawk. Last week, the company received a special “energy award” from ISO 14001, a highly recognized international standard for environmental management systems.

The award recognized Cyberhawk’s efforts to provide aerial panoramic images of a planned power-line route in the Scottish highlands. “The purpose of the job was to provide imagery to assist the client’s ecologist with planning the cable route in order to bypass an area Ospreys use to fly from their nest to the water during the mating season,” a Cyberhawk spokesperson noted in a release.

“Our UAVs were able to capture excellent data of the point of view from the nest to the water and helped mitigate any threats to the Osprey nests.”

Fleming added that the company’s iHawk asset-management software was the key to integrating drones seamlessly into utility-sector inspection operations.

“This software, teamed with industry qualified inspection engineers and experienced pilots, allows Cyberhawk to offer clients a full inspection engineering service,” he said.