Southern Company Gets BVLOS Waiver for Fully Remote Drone Operations with Skydio Dock

Southern Company Granted FAA Waiver for Fully-Remote Drone Operations

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

In partnership with drone leader Skydio, leading energy provider Southern Company has announced that it has received a conditions-based waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing for remote-based, autonomous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) dock operations across its system.

One of the first of its kind, this BVLOS waiver will assist the Southern Company system with remote-based infrastructure monitoring and inspection at plant sites, substations and additional fixed site locations. The integration of autonomous drone systems will make inspections, mapping and monitoring more efficient, leading to more reliable energy infrastructure for customers.

“This is a huge step in advancing autonomous and remote operations at scale,” said Dean Barefield, Southern Company’s UAS program manager. “The waiver will help to unlock the true potential of autonomous and remote-based operations while increasing efficiency and reliability.”

Southern Company will carry out these operations with the use of Skydio X2 and Skydio Dock. Skydio’s AI technology will grant operators the ability to safely conduct inspections of infrastructure in close proximity to structures, even within complex environments that would otherwise render operation challenging or impractical.

“This national-scale approval enables the Southern Company system to conduct remote operations at critical infrastructure sites from Georgia to California,” said Jenn Player, Skydio’s senior director of aviation regulatory affairs. “When it comes to scaling beyond visual line of sight operations, having an intelligent drone makes all the difference. Skydio was proud to support Southern Company in obtaining this approval that enables inspection and monitoring of critically important facilities.”

The Southern Company system received a prior waiver last November, enabling advanced BVLOS operations employing drones to map and inspect stacks, transmission lines and basins at Plant Barry in Bucks, Ala. This previous waiver allowed Southern Company to safely and more effectively conduct recurring inspections of its system’s critical infrastructure.

Read more:

• Skydio Introduces Skydio Dock and Dock Lite: Small, Lightweight Solutions for Remote Drone Ops
• FAA Reauthorization Clears the House of Representatives: Package Calls for More Progress on BVLOS Flight, Drone Integration
• Part 108 and BVLOS Flight; When Will it Happen, and What Will it Look Like? From Law-Tech Connect, at the Energy Drones and Robotics Summit
• BVLOS Inspections, No Humans Onsite: Percepto Wins FAA Waiver for Operations Within Shielded Airspace

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.