Sterblue, a French start-up, is officially open for business in the United States and plans to re-invent the world of energy infrastructure inspections in the United States, starting in California. Sterblue has developed a software for drones to inspect power grids and wind turbines automatically.
Over the past four years, Sterblue’s co-founder and CEO Geoffrey Vancassel, formerly an aerospace engineer with Airbus, has worked diligently with COO Nicolas Draber, CTO Vincent Lecrubier, and the rest of the Sterblue team to develop the cloud-based software and gain a strong presence in Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa. To date, Sterblue has executed inspections for nine utilities (including Innogy SE Group, EDP, Elia, and Enedis) in eight different countries and is already realizing the need for the improvement in the marketplace.
“The momentum we have gained in Europe and other countries has been great to prepare us for entering the United States," Vancassel says.
The Sterblue platform uses a combination between a complex 3D flight planning software and artificial intelligence algorithm to execute on its two-fold value add proposition.
First, the 3D flight planning software allows off-the-shelf drones (for example, DJI) to autonomously fly above, and around power lines, covering 100% of the asset. This is a massive upgrade from traditional inspection methods, such as helicopters or humans on foot, according to the company.
Once these photos have been uploaded into the Sterblue cloud, the company’s proprietary artificial intelligence software will label issues such as corrosion, bent bars, leading edge erosion or any other physical issues existing on power grids and wind turbines throughout the world. The AI software will become more sophisticated over time, as more use cases come through the platform.
“The ability for our software to effectively and efficiently label these inspection photos will save thousands of man hours for our partners over time,” Vancassel says.
Not only is the Sterblue software said to be more efficient, accurate and safer than using helicopters or humans, it is ultimately much cheaper as well. With the recent wildfire issues in California and the states massive electrical infrastructure, Sterblue has chosen to focus its effort in the West for the time being.
“We are absolutely interested in working with utilities outside of California, but have more than enough opportunity with SDG&E, SCE and PG&E to keep us busy and focus our efforts for the first part of 2019," Vancassel says. "We now have an operation and sales team based in Los Angeles supported by our tech team in Europe."
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