63 and 90 kV lines: three pylons in the Guadeloupe rainforest, five wooden poles in French Guiana

Background

In Guadeloupe, pylons 36, 37 and 38 of the 63 kV Bouillante – Sainte-Rose line stand inside the national park, along the Trace des Contrebandiers, an hour and a half to two hours’ walk away. For each one, Omexom THT Antilles-Guyane wanted the four faces from top to bottom, every cable attachment, the insulator strings and their metal fittings, the anchoring sleeves, the suspension clamps of the conductors and earth wire, the access, the surroundings and the spans on either side, with references that make it possible to find one’s way on the structure according to the direction of the line. In French Guiana, the same team called us in early June about a 90 kV line, first for a fault that prevented it from being re-energised, then for five wooden-pole supports.

What we did

In Guadeloupe, the flights were carried out by our partner Antilles Drone, accompanied by an Omexom employee for access. The operating procedure, sent before the mission, followed the same order for each pylon: access and surroundings, vertical view and a full round of the four faces and four corners, a climb by stages face by face, then attachments, insulators, suspensions and anchorages, and a check of the photos on landing. On 2 June, pylon 37, at the top of the hill, was fully covered; pylons 36 and 38, 700 m further down on either side, could only be photographed from a distance. A second day, on 15 July, completed pylon 36: 178 photos, from the general views to the three arms, with the spans towards pylons 35 and 37. In French Guiana, the fault-check request arrived on 1 June in the late afternoon; the next morning we photographed supports 50 to 60, then 66 and 94, and positioned two cable defects in the 94–95 span, delivered the same day with their coordinates. On 3 June, five wooden-pole supports on the same line were inspected at Matiti: 511 photos, 106 anomalies annotated and rated on four severity levels, with a PDF report and a defect table handed over on 5 June.

4 related missions in the log

1. July 2026

   InspectionGuadeloupe

   Second day on the 63 kV Bouillante – Sainte-Rose line: pylon 36 completed

   Bouillante, Sainte-Rose · Omexom

   On 15 July 2026, with Antilles Drone: 178 photos of pylon 36, from the general views and access to the three arms, with the earth-wire anchorage and the spans towards pylons 35 and 37. Deliverable for pylons 36 to 38 handed over on 16 July.

   • 178 photos

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2. June 2026

   InspectionFrench Guiana

   Fault check after an outage on a 90 kV line: supports 50 to 60, then 66 and 94

   Macouria · Omexom

   Request received on 1 June 2026 in the late afternoon, flights the next morning: photos of supports 50 to 60, then 66 and 94, and two cable defects positioned in the 94–95 span, delivered in KML and GeoJSON the same day.

   • < 25 h between request and results

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3. June 2026

   InspectionGuadeloupe

   Detailed inspection of pylons on the 63 kV Bouillante–Sainte-Rose line

   Bouillante, Sainte-Rose · Omexom

   On 2 June 2026, with Antilles Drone and an Omexom employee for access, on the Trace des Contrebandiers: pylon 37 fully covered at the top of the hill, pylons 36 and 38 photographed from a distance from that position. Pylon 36 was completed on 15 July.

   Read the article
4. June 2026

   InspectionFrench Guiana

   Inspection of five wooden-pole supports of a 90 kV line at Matiti

   Matiti, Macouria · Omexom

   On 3 June 2026, between supports 43 and 47: two pylons and three portal frames photographed in detail, 511 photos, 106 annotated anomalies (30 corrosion, 30 nesting, 14 structural cracks, 5 bolting, 26 others, mostly termites) rated 7 low, 97 medium and 2 high. PDF report, Excel table and Sentinel Cloud access delivered on 5 June.

   • 511 photos
   • 106 anomalies

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All missions