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Comment by delichon | Hacker News Reader

This could become a major power draw over decades. It's probably time to figure out a protocol. E.g. a cheap light small low power meter on the drone that can post the transaction to the electric company while in flight, signals to designate power lines as in or out of the system and their current price, etc. Solar roof owners could compete with the utilities. There are unicorns hiding in this forest.

The vampires will be the charging drones that aren't associated with a transaction. So it's about as enforceable as a requirement that drones have accurate identifier transponders.

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If I was the power distribution owner I would not trust the drone meters. Probably would need some type of load profiling on the distribution side, then all the drone has to do is authenticate a valid customer id for billing.

> If I was the power distribution owner I would not trust the drone meters.

Understandable.

> then all the drone has to do is authenticate a valid customer id for billing

I mean you can ask for anything, but how do you police it? If the drone is by a recognisable entity doing legitimate things sure you can fine them if they don’t comply. But what do you do with literal fly-by-night operators?

As with anything, you can't police it at this scale, at least not until we have mandated brain implants that monitor our every thought and action.

Simple net will solve the problem.

How so? There are 120,000 miles of transmission lines in the USA. Not all of that is overhead high voltage, but the system is still vast. Where do you put the net?

The problem has three prongs: Detection: there is so much line, and much of it is away from regular eyes. Intermittent-moving threat: Imagine you get a report about a drone perching on your wires. You schedule and dispatch a team to deal with it. Most likely by the time they arrive on site the drone is gone. They are playing a catchup game with moving threats. Action: okay, you got a drone in sight. Either because it didn’t move away, or because you got lucky. What do you do? Mind you the lines are really high and poking things near them can be hazardous if not done correctly. So it is not just any Harry and Dick who can deal with the drone, you need someone trained and with the right equipment.

Who cares? If they don’t want their power drawn they need to be burying their powerlines anyway.

Cost of undergrounding power lines is large. Especially over the distribution network (in that there is a lot more of it over space)

On the other hand, hung lines have a tendency to fall down, get tangled in trees, and start forest fires, so the cost of above ground lines is also high...

Burying those lines is not practical. Inspecting and repairing them is. The problem is significant deferred maintenance. Buried lines cost much more to maintain, in addition to installation costs even where they are feasible. It's better to make sure (1) the towers don't fall down (2) into a forest ready to ignite. That can be done, but we have to pay.

If Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic taught me anything it's that underground power lines are for the capitalist bourgeoisie.

See this is the thing: people complain about the little bit of power being eaten up by drones. But if power companies really cared, they’d bury their powerlines.

They really don’t care. It’s a rounding error.

This is a classic prisoner’s dilemma, and you’re advocating for both sides to hit “betray”.

Perhaps if enough drones did this, they would indeed bury the lines. But that would be strictly worse than a world in which they didn’t bury them, and drones don’t steal electricity regardless.

Alternatively

Who cares? If they don’t want their oil siphoned they need to be burying their pipelines anyway.

Most would agree that unauthorized draws from common infrastructure resulting in loss is theft.

I feel like I would be more sympathetic to this argument if my utility provider wasn’t PG&E.

Theft, yes, how serious? Not very. Basically a rounding error for the power company. They likely see higher loses from things like fence lines installed near power lines.

In which case the earth itself can steal the power, in addition to making your electric bill 500 times higher from the capital cost required to bury millions of miles of transmission network.

I'd assume buried lines would be HVDC rather than AC which effectively eliminates the loses from burying.

Power company can install a mesh or net over lines, to prevent sitting on them, or use another drone to inspect lines and direct a man with a shotgun.

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