Utilitas district heating networks are photographed with a thermal camera from a helicopter

In the spring, the energy group Utilitas plans to photograph the district heating pipelines in Tallinn, Maardu, Keila, and Haapsalu with a thermal camera from a helicopter to map the technical condition of the pipelines. Flights take place late at night.

Thermographic photos provide a thorough overview of the technical condition of the heating pipes and help to identify possible weak spots in the heating network.

Helicopter flights will take place in Tallinn, Maardu, Keila, and Haapsalu in the second half of March or in the beginning of April. The exact flight time will be announced approximately one day in advance, as taking pictures requires minimal snow cover and optimal wind and cloud conditions.

The absence of sunlight is important for taking photos, which is why the flights take place after sunset and between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm.

“As taking photos is strongly dependent on weather, the flight times of the helicopter will be announced approximately one day in advance. We are alerting city residents of our plans in good time and we apologize for any inconvenience that may occur due to the late-night flights of the helicopter”, said Olga Petrova, Head of Marketing and Communications in Utilitas.

In order to take pictures of the city’s entire heating network, the helicopter flies over one location approximately three times, which means that the sound of the helicopter can be heard for almost 15 minutes at each location. The flights take place at an altitude of 300–400 m.

Utilitas performs thermographic imaging of district heating networks in cooperation with Finnish companies GridJet Oy and Advian OY, which have experience in performing such work in both Finland and Estonia.