Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Minneapolis based, Xcel Energy to fly the drone, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the operator.
“Xcel Energy is honoured to be the first utility to conduct flights that will enhance grid reliability and safety for our employees and the public,” says Ben Fowke, Chairman, President and CEO of Xcel Energy.
The company will be operating UAS BVLOS on a routine basis within a designated area and 20 miles away from the Denver International Airport. For the successful and safe flights, the company is working with several partners.
For past many years, Xcel Energy has been collaborating with FAA to develop operational and safety requirements for UAS operations in the utility industry.
The drone industry continuously grow up throughout the world. From India where the Deep Aero was based, we move to Denver, USA where FAA approved the Xcel Energy to fly the drone.
This article is really interesting due to the fact that BVLOS or Beyond Visual Line of Sight will operate 20 miles away from Denver National Airport.
I conducted a research in Xcel Energy, fortunately, I found out that Xcel Energy is a utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.3 million electric customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. Well, I don't think that it has relation with Deep Aero but I think it is an opportunity to open the utility of drones throughout the world.
References:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcel_Energy
https://medium.com/@deepaerodrones/faa-approved-xcel-energy-to-operate-uas-bvlos-3c097656bc1e