Utility provider is also reducing costs and increasing efficiency using advanced technology
Hydro-Québec is reshaping how it inspects some of its riskiest infrastructure, harnessing drones, artificial intelligence and underwater robots to protect workers while tackling aging assets and labour shortages.
Christian Bélanger, senior director of the Hydro-Québec research centre, says the utility’s push on technology is driven by a blend of safety, efficiency and cost pressures.
“There are different motivations here,” he explains. “There is safety for sure. There is also efficiency. I would say it also reduces the cost.”
Drones on the line: replacing climbs with robotics
High-voltage transmission lines are punctuated by joints – or “sleeves” – every few kilometres. These joints are weak points that can deteriorate faster than the cable itself, and traditionally they had to be checked by line workers climbing tall structures or going up in bucket trucks. “That was involving high risk of safety,” Bélanger says.
Now, Hydro-Québec uses drones to take on both visual checks and more detailed testing. A camera-equipped drone first performs a rapid visual inspection; if a joint appears suspect, the same drone can land on the live line and travel along it to the sleeve, measuring electrical resistance as an indicator of joint condition.
In addition to removing the need to work at heights and fall risks, the shift has delivered major productivity gains. “You don’t need anybody to climb the line or to do anything complicated, and it’s 8 to 10 times faster,” Bélanger notes.
Future iterations may even support certain repairs, but for now the focus is on making inspections safer and more efficient while keeping lines energized.
AI in the streets: smarter hotspot detection underground
Underground electrical networks present another set of hazards. Before anyone works on these systems, Hydro-Québec must identify “hot spots” that signal insulation degradation on conductors. That degradation can trigger partial discharges, an electrocution risk for the worker.
In the past, thermographers captured infrared images and manually interpreted them, a process prone to human error. Today, the utility mounts infrared cameras on poles to capture images through manholes, then feeds those images into AI-based analysis tools.
“Images are processed using AI-based tools,” Bélanger says. “And today we’re sure at 100% with AI-based tool analysis that there’s no risk, or if there’s a risk, we see it right away.”
All Hydro-Québec trucks are now equipped with this technology, and the same approach is being extended to assess the condition of concrete underground structures, adding another layer of prevention.
The tools not only improve safety; they also free up scarce staff. With faster, automated analysis, field personnel can focus on higher-value tasks at a time when, as Bélanger notes, “we don’t have enough workers to do what we want to do.”
Robots underwater: safer dam and spillway inspections
At Hydro-Québec’s dams, spillway gates must operate flawlessly during floods to protect structures and downstream communities. The gates ride on underwater rails, which must be inspected regularly to ensure they are not damaged or obstructed.
For years, that meant sending divers into difficult conditions with limited visibility – work that Bélanger describes bluntly as unsafe. “Historically, we were using divers… and this wasn’t safe at all. In fact, one diver died several years ago,” he says.
Now the inspections are performed by remotely operated robots fitted with ultrasonic probes and brushes. The robots ride down along rigid guide cables installed temporarily on top of the spillway gate, scanning the steel rails and surrounding concrete with high accuracy.
The system is portable and can be moved from dam to dam as inspections are scheduled, providing detailed condition data without putting human lives at risk.
Embracing change on the front lines
For all three technologies, Bélanger says worker buy-in has been strong. The roles are changing – trading tower climbs for joysticks and underwater dives for robot control – but the benefits are clear.
“You still have a worker in the loop, but… today you have no mistakes. It’s a lot faster,” he says of the AI-enabled inspections. “It’s a change of the way they do their jobs, but basically it’s been seen as very positive.”
For Hydro-Québec, the message from the top is consistent: health and safety is a core priority, and innovation is essential to delivering on it.
This article is part of our Monthly Spotlight series, which in March focuses on Technology and Innovation.
