Heavy-lift drones have been used to transport power transmission tower parts to designated positions across a rainforest in southwest China's Yunnan Province, in a bid to reduce damage to the environment.
As a flagship energy cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative, the lines of China-Laos 500-kilovolt interconnection power transmission project cross dense tropical forests along the China section of the project, where Asian elephants live.
To minimize disruption and reduce environment damage, engineers have adopted a "four-drone joint lift" technique to move tower parts and components weighing up to 600 kilograms each.
Meanwhile, over 30 drones of various types and two helicopters can be deployed to form an aerial formation, capable of completing the transportation of tower parts each weighing nearly one ton.
Using drones and helicopters, crews have completed foundation laying for 255 transmission towers so far, accessing 88% of the sites without any new road construction.
"We cut back on 15 cableway installations, reduced temporary land use by over 80,000 square meters, and avoided the felling of more than 30,000 trees," said Wang Xiong, construction manager of Yunnan Electric Power Transmission and Transformation Construction Co., Ltd. under China Southern Power Grid.
The China–Laos 500-kilovolt interconnection power transmission line spans 183.5 kilometers from Namo in Laos' Oudomxay Province to Xishuangbanna in China's Yunnan Province. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the project is expected to support two‑way power transmission of up to 1.5 million kilowatts and deliver about 3 billion kWh of clean electricity each year.
Drones used in transmission line construction to reduce environment damage
