As part of its year-round bushfire mitigation and vegetation management program, United Energy is using helicopters to scan and map powerlines across the Mornington Peninsula.
The choppers, which fly about 300m above the ground, use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to scan the distance between tree branches and powerlines.
Using the LiDAR data, United Energy teams create 3D models of powerlines and their surroundings, helping to inform what vegetation needs to be cut.
United Energy Head of Vegetation Management, Ayce Cordy, said it was important that accurate measurements were taken of all vegetation each and every year.
“Inspecting and managing vegetation growing near powerlines is an essential part of how we keep power safe and reliable for our customers,” Mr Cordy said.
“By capturing data every year, we can track growth rates of vegetation across our network, helping us plan where to cut right now and when we may need to conduct cutting in the future.”
The helicopters are operating over Frankston, Red Hill, Sorrento, Hastings, Rosebud, Mornington and Dromana throughout the rest of February 2025.
The utility said each year, it uses a fleet of three helicopters to inspect 100 per cent of more than 13,000km of powerlines across Melbourne’s east, south-east and the Mornington Peninsula.
Here’s how the cutting program works.
United Energy’s trained cutting teams can enter private property to cut trees back from powerlines and also work on public land across its network. These teams need to meet clearance requirements that are regulated by Victoria’s energy safety regulator, Energy Safe Victoria (ESV), and larger clearance areas are required in areas of higher bushfire risk.
For private property, United Energy teams notify customers of cutting required at their address, complete the required pruning work then return to remove debris. However, when urgent cutting is identified, the utility isn’t always able to provide advance notice.
United Energy’s aircraft fleet of three includes one Bell 407 helicopter and two Bell 505 helicopters.
The Bell 407 helicopter features:
- Crew: one pilot and one LiDAR system operator per aircraft
- Top speed: 260km/h
- Range: 870km
- Aircraft length: 12.62m
- Aircraft height: 3.33m
- LiDAR system: RIEGL VUX-240
- Slow cruise speed for LiDAR capture: 129km/h
- LiDAR scan speed: 1.8MHz and 400 lines per second
- Data capture: 1TB per day
The Bell 505 helicopters feature:
- Crew: one pilot and one LiDAR system operator per aircraft
- Top speed: 232km/h
- Range: 617km
- Aircraft length: 12.93m
- Aircraft height: 3.25m
- LiDAR system: RIEGL VUX-240
- Slow cruise speed for LiDAR capture: 129km/h
- LiDAR scan speed: 1.8MHz and 400 lines per second
- Data capture: 1TB per aircraft per day
