Utilities increasingly recognize the value of drones for transmission, distribution, vegetation management, storm response, and wildfire mitigation. But recognizing the value is not the same as building a scalable operational capability.

Should a utility purchase aircraft and develop its own pilots, aviation governance, regulatory approvals, maintenance program, data pipeline, and analytics? Should it purchase inspection intelligence as a managed service? Or is a hybrid model the better long-term answer?

This panel brings together utility and industry leaders to examine the strategic, financial, operational, and data-governance decisions behind each model. Panelists will discuss where internal programs commonly stall, what capabilities utilities should retain, how to evaluate total cost and risk, and how to turn aerial data into decisions that improve safety, reliability, and resilience.