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Electrical Infrastructure Monitoring: everything you need to know about Challenges and Solutions

Up to €100,000: that’s the cost of a single inspection of an electrical pylon.

When a storm strikes, it can bring down 23,000 pylons in just a few hours, as happened in France in 1999. These alarming figures raise a critical question: how can we effectively protect our electrical networks?

The challenge is immense. Across France’s 81,000 kilometers of pylons, 85% stand in remote areas, far from watchful eyes. Traditional inspection methods, though thorough, have their limitations. Each visit requires entire teams, yet the results don’t always guarantee the detection of weaknesses.

The most concerning fact? Statistics show that 82% of failures occur without warning, making the traditional approach—based on the age of installations—obsolete. And when extreme weather events strike, as seen during the devastating 1999 storms, our infrastructure reveals its full vulnerability.

With these challenges at the intersection of safety imperatives and budgetary constraints, one pressing question emerges: how can infrastructure managers ensure effective monitoring of their networks?

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Challenges of electrical Infrastructure Monitoring

Monitoring electrical infrastructure faces significant hurdles that compromise not only network safety but also operational profitability. The energy transition and the rise of Smart Grids further complicate the task, requiring increasingly sophisticated infrastructure management.

Isolated and Hard-to-Reach Infrastructure

The first challenge lies in the very location of electrical infrastructure: 85% of pylons are in remote areas with unreliable terrestrial network coverage. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that cellular networks cover only 15% of the Earth’s surface. Traditional IoT solutions thus face limitations. Conventional technologies like radio, fiber optics, or cellular networks are often inadequate or extremely costly in these remote environments.

Increasing Vulnerability to Climate Hazards

Extreme weather events pose a major threat to electrical infrastructure. The 1999 storms in France damaged more than 23,000 pylons, highlighting this vulnerability. More recently, Storms Ciaran (2023) and Caetano (2024) caused massive power outages, affecting 1.2 million and 600,000 users in France, respectively.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the increasing frequency of extreme temperatures will accelerate drought episodes, which in turn can fuel wildfires or worsen them when they aren’t the direct cause. The rising intensity and frequency of extreme weather events make enhanced monitoring essential to prevent structural failures and ensure service continuity.

The Financial Burden of Manual Inspections

Traditional inspections place a heavy financial burden on maintenance budgets. With costs ranging from €40,000 to €100,000 per visit, manual interventions are extremely expensive. Beyond financial concerns, these operations expose technicians to significant risks when working in hard-to-reach areas. This prohibitive cost often leads to reduced inspection frequency, compromising early anomaly detection.

Late Detection with Severe Consequences

The lack of continuous monitoring leads to delayed anomaly detection, with potentially severe consequences. Critical problems can go unnoticed for weeks or even months, including:

The gradual corrosion of metal structures, silently weakening pylons,
Abnormal tilts due to ground movements, threatening line stability,
Mechanical tension variations in cables, increasing the risk of breakage,
Excessive vibrations leading to premature material fatigue.

Delayed detection often turns minor incidents into major failures, increasing repair costs and causing network-wide service disruptions.

How satellite IoT facilitates
power grid monitoring?

The Growing Complexity of Smart Grids

The transition to intelligent electrical networks (Smart Grids) adds a new layer of complexity to monitoring. This evolution demands a radically different approach:

The shift from centralized management to a decentralized, bidirectional system,
The increasing integration of renewable energy, requiring greater network flexibility,
The need to optimize real-time energy consumption,
The requirement for precise, continuous data to adjust power distribution.

These new demands render traditional monitoring methods, based solely on periodic inspections, obsolete.

Critical Cybersecurity Challenges

As electrical infrastructures become increasingly connected, data security becomes a vital concern. Surveillance solutions that rely on non-European infrastructure raise several concerns:

Technological dependence on foreign actors,
Risks of malicious exploitation of critical data,
Compliance with European data protection regulations,
Vulnerability to cyberattacks.

Satellite IoT: A Solution Aligned with the Energy Sector’s Challenges

Faced with these challenges, Satellite Internet of Things (IoT) is emerging as a game-changing solution, revolutionizing how electrical infrastructure is monitored.

Global Coverage Without Black Spots

Satellite IoT eliminates surveillance blind spots in electrical infrastructure monitoring. Where terrestrial networks fail, satellite IoT takes over, securing the 85% of pylons located in remote areas. Even the most isolated structures are now covered, including:

Continuous tracking of structures in mountainous regions
Ongoing monitoring of lines crossing forests
Surveillance of installations in regions lacking terrestrial network coverage
Guaranteed communication even in extreme weather conditions

Near Real-Time Proactive Monitoring

Installing smart sensors on pylons enables early anomaly detection through constant monitoring of key parameters, such as:

Continuous measurement of structure inclination to detect deformations,
Monitoring of mechanical cable tension to prevent breakages,
Vibration analysis to identify signs of structural fatigue,
Temperature variation tracking to anticipate excessive expansion,
Corrosion detection to prevent structural weakening.

This approach fundamentally shifts maintenance from a reactive to a preventive strategy, based on precise and up-to-date data.

Significant Reduction in Operational Costs

Adopting satellite IoT transforms infrastructure management with measurable financial and operational benefits:

Up to 30% reduction in inspection and maintenance costs,
Elimination of unnecessary preventive inspection visits,
Optimization of technical team deployments,
Extension of equipment lifespan through targeted preventive maintenance,
Up to 70% reduction in failures thanks to early anomaly detection.

Continuous monitoring also improves intervention planning, cutting logistics costs and minimizing unexpected downtimes.

Enhanced Safety for Teams and Infrastructure

Reducing manual interventions significantly improves safety by:

Minimizing technicians’ exposure to height-related risks,
Reducing operations in adverse weather conditions,
Better preparing teams with precise diagnostics before interventions,
Anticipating climate risks through early warnings,
Enabling rapid intervention before situations become critical.

Guaranteed Technological Sovereignty

As critical infrastructure security becomes a national priority, European satellite IoT offers essential guarantees:

100% European technology ensuring technological independence,
Secure data storage in France,
Full compliance with European regulations,
Enhanced protection against cyber threats,
Complete control over the data transmission chain.

Kinéis: French Excellence in Electrical Infrastructure Monitoring

Kinéis is revolutionizing electrical infrastructure monitoring with an innovative approach that combines cutting-edge satellite technology with French expertise.

A Dedicated Satellite Constellation for Uninterrupted Coverage

With its constellation of 25 nanosatellites specifically designed for IoT, Kinéis’ satellite connectivity ensures:

24/7 continuous monitoring worldwide,
Reliable data transmission, even in the most remote areas,
Optimal responsiveness to potential incidents,
Global coverage without black spots,
Total independence from terrestrial networks.

The Efficiency of Small Data for Monitoring

Kinéis prioritizes the smart transmission of essential data:

Optimized energy consumption for extended sensor autonomy,
Long-lasting batteries reducing maintenance interventions,
Targeted transmission of critical information,
Rapid decision-making through efficient data communication,
Cost-effective data transmission optimization.

Advanced Anomaly Detection

Smart sensors deployed on infrastructure enable:

Precise tracking of structural parameters (inclination, vibrations),
Continuous measurement of mechanical cable tension,
Constant monitoring of temperature variations,
Early corrosion detection,
Automated alerts for anomalies.

Conclusion

Electrical infrastructure monitoring is entering a new technological era. Given increasing network vulnerabilities and the rise of extreme weather events, satellite IoT provides a tailored solution to security and performance challenges.

The benefits are clear:

Continuous monitoring, even in the most remote areas.

Early anomaly detection through smart sensors.

Optimized maintenance costs.

Guaranteed technological sovereignty.

Kinéis’ constellation of 25 nanosatellites, fully developed in Europe, represents the necessary evolution towards smarter, more resilient power grid management.