"Magic Balls" installed by drones may revolutionize US power grid

Magic Balls aka temperature sensors that allow transmission lines to be overloaded based on environmental conditions, meaning more capacity across existing lines when conditions are favorable.

I&#x27;m not a fan of the manufacturer dubbing these &quot;Magic Balls&quot;, when &quot;sensor spheres&quot; or even &quot;Neuron&quot; from the original article linked in this thread, is more than sufficient. We&#x27;re not trying to appeal to home consumers here. Maybe it&#x27;s for politicians...<p>Cool project though, transmission costs account for a large proportion of energy delivery.

This story references the electrek story (already posted [0]), although the Heimdall post from October[1] (also referenced) seems to have the best info.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38983886">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38983886</a> [1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;heimdallpower.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;arva-customer-story-magic-ball&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;heimdallpower.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;arva-customer-story-magic-ball&#x2F;</a>

Just for a bit of background, transmission companies want to know the temperature of transmission lines because the dynamic clearance of the line to the ground as the current heats the wire limits the max current. Surprisingly complex to model accurately as it is quite dynamic (sometimes the conductor is pinned with the insulator and it swings, or sometimes it can slip through, etc, etc).

I can&#x27;t find any information on how these are powered. Do they partly use current flow from coronal discharge? Or is it some long lasting battery?

There is already a lot of telemetry on North American transmission lines and even more on transmission substation equipment, because the utilities understand that these are their highest-replacement-cost assets. But in our regulatory environment, squeezing out the last increment of dynamic capacity is more of an RTO concern than a utility concern. The RTOs may be doing cost-benefit analysis on things like this, but that analysis will be very complicated.

Those hyperlinks are pretty ballsy.

Good lord, please don’t do this to hyperlinks.