Satellite Monitoring of Power Lines: Rosseti Siberia and Russian Space Systems Rethink Infrastructure Oversight
The condition of high-voltage power lines operated by PJSC Rosseti Siberia will be monitored using satellites. The company signed a corresponding agreement with JSC Russian Space Systems (RSS) at the Eastern Economic Forum 2026.
Remote sensing technologies will initially be used to monitor areas surrounding power lines in the Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts. These regions present major challenges for inspecting transmission infrastructure because of harsh climatic conditions, remote locations and the sheer length of the networks. From several hundred kilometers above Earth, satellite imagery will make it possible to analyze transmission-line right-of-way zones and the condition of vegetation clearances, identify sections overgrown with trees and shrubs, detect illegally constructed buildings, sites where illegally harvested timber has been stockpiled, and other violations of protected-zone boundaries. Data collected during the pilot project will be used to establish criteria for digitally processing the information. The approach will then be extended to other areas where the utility operates.
Through its cooperation with RSS, PJSC Rosseti Siberia will gain a reliable digital monitoring tool that can support more effective infrastructure management and reduce the risk of failures and other emergency situations. For end users, the practical result should be more reliable electricity supplies.
From Manual Processing to Machine Vision
The project’s further expansion will involve more than applying the experience gained to other Rosseti units. A key element of the future system will be automated interpretation of satellite imagery. Computer-vision algorithms trained on specific examples will be able to process huge volumes of data and rapidly identify violations within power-line protected zones.
In practice, this will lead to a hybrid model for monitoring power-grid infrastructure. Satellite imagery will be used to identify problem areas, while more detailed inspections will be carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles and ground crews.
Although the technology is primarily intended for use in Russia, it also has export potential. Foreign partners could be offered a ready-made system combining satellite imaging with intelligent processing of the resulting data. That could be particularly relevant for countries with vast, hard-to-reach territories and extensive power networks.
From Helicopters to Satellites
Rosseti has traditionally relied on helicopter surveys to visually monitor long stretches of its infrastructure. Since the late 2010s, however, power companies have increasingly used satellite tracking capabilities. Initially, this mainly involved collecting data from monitoring sensors installed at power infrastructure facilities in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
In the early 2020s, utilities began using satellites to photograph the condition of long sections of power lines. While the initial approach relied on manual processing of the resulting data, advances in machine vision have made neural networks increasingly useful for analyzing the imagery.
In 2025, researchers at HSE University–Moscow developed an algorithm to automatically identify clearings beneath power lines in Sentinel-2 imagery. As software capabilities have advanced, systems of this kind have moved into commercial use for major power companies.
In 2026, RSS signed a contract to monitor the condition of hydropower facilities with PJSC RusHydro.
The Future Lies in Industrial Deployment
The agreement between RSS and Rosseti Siberia shows that remote sensing technologies are poised to become an integral part of utilities’ day-to-day operations.
If the project proves economically and operationally effective, it will become part of an integrated system in which the results of automated satellite-image analysis are entered into a unified information system, while potentially hazardous areas identified by the system are inspected by UAVs and ground crews.
For Russia’s geospatial analytics market, projects of this kind could create sustained demand from the power sector for a full range of services related to acquiring and processing satellite data.
