Drones in Solar Energy
Our inspection solution processes thermal images taken of PV systems and identifies, classifies, and prioritizes 100% of all anomalies, mapped to a digital twin of your solar site. All anomalies have an exact location for efficient remediation, enabling PV systems across the world to maximize productivity.
Providing an Integrated and Accurate Inspections with detailed Reports
Drones in Solar Energy
Traditional solar field assessments consist of inspecting each panel with handheld thermal imagers to check for defective cells or cables. During this process, personnel have to manually keep track of the locations of anomalies to perform maintenance afterward. Because of the scale of
most solar farms, this method of inspecting results in inefficient and imprecise data.
The integration of drone technology has completely improved the efficiency and accuracy of the inspection process. Thermal cameras, can survey large areas within a solar farm, collecting high-resolution infrared images during just a single flight.
Deliverables
Aerial images provide a broader perspective of
solar farms and allow maintenance teams to
receive valuable information in real-time. When
analyzing thermal images, it is easier to identify
potential anomalies across cells, strings, or
panels. Combining thermal and visual data
helps you determine if the heat anomalies are
caused by faults found physically on the panel,
such as delamination, cracks, dust, or internal
issues such as the inability to connect to a panel
due to an inverter or cable failure.
Early detection of faulty elements within a
solar farm will help to prevent major output
deficiencies. The faster and more accurately
a maintenance team can detect possible
defects, the quicker they can respond and
prevent major system failures. Inspections
and maintenance that are effectively
conducted translate into protecting the interests
of investors and ensuring that the the PV
system is operating at its peak efficiency.
One of the main reasons for adopting drones for
solar panel inspections is reduction in maintenance
costs. Typically, inspections of large solar
farms are done by a ground team who inspect
each panel by hand. This method can take days
or weeks depending on the size of the farm and
it results in a large amount of man hours which
significantly increases costs. Drones are proven
to reduce inspection time by up to 70%.
Keeping records of previous inspections is
useful for figuring out the causes behind panel
faults. In some cases, issues with solar cells do
not justify the replacement of a panel, but it is
essential to keep track of them to prevent major
failures. It is also beneficial to perform an aerial
inspection after completing installation of new
panels to use the data as a baseline for future
inspections
With use of thermal and visual images, the data
is run into our industry leading software to
detect all anomalies. These issues are then
tagged, Geo referenced, and reviewed for
efficient remediation. Each defect from cell to
string level is described with thermal and visual
images for reference. Our reports also include
an interactive map of your solar plant with the
ability to easily share with other team members.
Our Inspections detect
- Cell Anomalies
- Module Failures
- Circuit Anomalies
- Inverter Anomalies
- Inverter Anomalies
- Soiling
- Diode Anomalies
- Tracker faults
- Under performing strings
- Inverter Anomalies
- String Outages
- Cracks