Durham Reporter

Ian will let Duke Energy see how practical drones can be in detecting downed lines so crews can get on site quicker.

"There's a lot that you can see from the ground, but if you're 200 feet in the air, there's a lot more you can see – where is the damage? How extensive is the damage," Jackson Rollins, director of unmanned aerial systems of Duke Energy, told WRAL this week. 

A fleet of drones will allow Duke to check on properties that could be hard to get to if roads flood or if the property is in more remote areas.

That's not the only change in how Duke Energy stands ready to restore power.

Duke Energy also uses "smart, self-healing technology" in some cases. The system is being installed around the state. It is designed to detect surges, and downed power lines and should allow power to be quickly rerouted from another source to restore outages.

The technology is relatively new, but on a small scale, the installation of the technology in the grid in Durham has prevented more than 10,000 customer outages already this year. 

More conventionally, Duke Energy is adding manpower ahead of Ian hitting the area. The company is contacting utility workers in other states. It is even considering reaching out to recent retirees to see if they can help. 

Duke Energy has also been helpful when public entities have concerns, with the utility aware of critical customers and the need to get services online more quickly in such cases.

"During large-scale events, we're communicating with Duke as much as we can. They're communicating back with us," Sarah Pickhardt, Orange County's director of emergency management, said. "If we've got an outage at a critical facility, we're able to let them know and help that restoration happen a little quicker like if it's a hospital."