Thousands of people were left without power after a food delivery drone crashed into powerlines on September 29 in what has been described as a “first” by Energex.
Energex had to shut down the network after a crew was called to the incident on Thursday in Browns Plains on Scrubby Creek Road, south of Brisbane, and the immediate surrounds lost power yesterday after a drone carrying food hit the network about 2pm.
“It landed on top of 11,000 volts and whilst it didn’t take out power, there was voltage tracking across the drone and the drone caught fire and fell to the ground,” Energex spokesman Danny Donald said. “So we didn’t actually have to get the drone off, as such, it actually caught fire and incinerated itself.”
Energex restored power for about 2,000 customers within 45 minutes, while 300 customers in the immediate vicinity of that drone were without power for three hours.
“The meal was still hot inside the drone’s delivery box when the crew got there,” Mr Donald said. “We’ve never seen these delivery drones hit the network. It’s rare. This is the first time that I’ve seen it happen. It could have simply been an equipment malfunction. It may have been human error.”
Mr Donald said there was no permanent damage to the network and thus would not be requesting the food delivery company to cover the damage.
However, he said, if any person or company caused network damage, for example, by reversing into a power pole, Energex could seek the cost of damage repairs.
He said everyone, including companies, had to be careful not to let objects hit power lines or cause damage to the network.
“While this is a different circumstance, it’s no different to the previous generation flying kites,” Mr Donald said. “Fifteen years ago, we asked people to be careful if they were giving their children kites for Christmas and where they were flying them. Now we’re asking parents to be very careful with where their kids fly their drones. It could bring down live powerlines. The last thing we want is people in danger.”
Energex asks for common sense to prevail
Over the years, a number of objects, including shoes, umbrellas, trampolines, kites and even toilet seats, have caused issues, he said.
Mr Donald said while there was an immediate danger if anything hit live powerlines, there was also a significant inconvenience to residents and businesses that lost power.
“It’s not just homes and businesses. We’re talking street lights and traffic lights and that sort of thing,” he said. “It’s common sense really, and we’re asking for that common sense to prevail.”
A spokesperson for Wing, the company that operates the drone delivery, said a drone made a
“precautionary controlled landing yesterday … and came to rest on an overhead power line. We immediately reported this to Energex, who attended the location, the spokesperson said. “Two hours later, during the retrieval process, there was a power outage in the area. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused. We’re currently conducting a review of yesterday’s event.”