ComEd drones eradicate weeds under power lines

CHICAGO - ComEd said Tuesday it has begun piloting an innovative approach to vegetation management near power lines with the help of specialized drones.

The first deployment of drone-delivered herbicide took place on two acres of ComEd right-of-way land in Forest View in late August, the utility company said. ComEd said the drone deployment took 45 minutes and 0.75 gallons of herbicide to complete what would have taken a human crew approximately two days of work and 8 gallons of herbicide solution.

Recent inspection of the area has indicated the drone herbicide deployment was successful, enabling ComEd to further refine and deploy this program in other areas to more efficiently maintain vegetation overgrowth that, absent proper management, could cause power outages.

"As a result of our team's innovative thinking, ComEd is the first Midwest utility to utilize drones in our vegetation management program to more efficiently and more safely mitigate the threat of power outages due to plant growth or overgrowth around our power lines," said Michelle Blaise, senior vice president of technical services at ComEd.

This pilot program will help ComEd address invasive and unwanted vegetation located along its transmission power lines and quicken the process of bringing more natural prairie to approximately 65,000 acres of ComEd right-of-way land. To cultivate natural prairie, any existing, nonnative vegetation must be fully removed to prime the property for new, native seed growth.

As of 2022, ComEd has successfully restored nearly 4,000 acres of land into natural prairie and pollinator habitats. The two-acre site in Forest View is now in the process of being converted to natural prairie.