Months away from the approach of winter weather in Oklahoma, Public Service Company of Oklahoma started preparations with a winter storm exercise this week in Tulsa. The utility is not waiting for storms to strike and leave thousands of its customers without power.
The utility brought together workers from Tulsa, McAlester and Lawton as part of its twice-annual storm exercises.
News on 6 in Tulsa reported employees rehearsed scenarios where there were large power outages and practiced on identification of the power problems and the speed of dispatching workers for repairs. Power lines downed by ice is a major cause of outages during the winter, according to Tyler Devereux, Managing Director Distribution Operations for PSO.
“From folks that are in logistics, operations, planning, we all get together and can put all the pieces of a puzzle together to make sure that when and if a storm occurs, that we’re responding as safely and efficiently as possible,” said Tyler Devereux.
To help located the source of power problems, PSO has employed drones.
PSO’s chief drone pilot, Jason Lawson said earlier in the summer that the drones allow teams to safely inspect circuits in hard-to-reach areas such as wooded terrain, creek crossings and hillsides.
“It gives us a safer and faster way to see what’s happening on the line without putting employees in challenging situations,” he explained.
In addition to live inspections, Lawson flies PSO’s drone-in-box over circuits to create pre-programmed flight routes that can be reused when outages occur. These mapped routes allow drones to fly autonomously along power lines and quickly capture images during an outage.
“Instead of starting from scratch, we already know the path the drone needs to take,” Lawson said. “That lets us get eyes on the line almost immediately and share that information with crews.”
The program also supports proactive maintenance by helping teams identify potential issues earlier. High-resolution imagery and thermal data can reveal concerns that aren’t always visible from the ground, such as aging equipment or overheating components. Drone findings are organized into immediate safety issues and future repair needs, helping crews plan work more effectively and reduce repeat site visits.
During storm response, the combination of pre-planned routes and drone inspections helps speed up damage assessment and restoration, especially in remote areas. As the program continues to expand, drones remain a key tool for improving safety, efficiency, and reliability for employees and customers across PSO’s system.
