Dawu, Hubei: Heavy-Lift Drones Carry Tower Components Across Deep Mountains

On June 17, 2026, Xiaogan Power Supply Company of State Grid Hubei Electric Power Co., Ltd., together with Hubei Huazhong Electric Power Technology Development Co., Ltd., deployed two heavy-lift intelligent drones in Jiangxigou, Yangping Town, Dawu County, Xiaogan, to hoist tower components for Tower No. 14 of the 220-kV outgoing transmission project supporting the Dawu Pumped Storage Power Station.
More than 90 percent of the project’s route passes through deep mountain forests, where the terrain is steep and rugged and there are no access roads. Large transport equipment and engineering vehicles cannot reach the mountaintop tower sites, making land transport of tower components a major challenge. By using heavy-lift drones to hoist and transport the components by air, the project has overcome the constraints of mountainous terrain, significantly shortened the construction period in mountain areas, and demonstrated how technology is helping modernize power grid infrastructure construction.

A heavy-lift drone carries transmission tower components over layers of dense forest. (Photo by Yu Jianbing)

The Dawu Pumped Storage Power Station is a key national energy project under the 14th Five-Year Plan. With a total installed capacity of 300 MW, the station serves as a “super power bank” for the northeastern Hubei power grid and can deliver an average of 278 million kWh of clean electricity annually. As the core power transmission corridor for the station, the supporting 220-kV outgoing transmission project is essential to enabling green electricity grid connection and ensuring the project’s commissioning.
After entering operation, the project is expected to generate an average of 278 million kWh of electricity annually, absorb nearly 400 million kWh of renewable electricity each year, save 114,000 tonnes of standard coal, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 300,000 tonnes. (By Du Yuan, Yu Jianbing, He Yao, Chen Chen)