Drone Solar Inspections
Within the last few years, the use of drones in solar has seen a significant increase. Between 2019 and 2020, infrared drone solar inspections had increased by 36%. And PV companies around the world had saved over $435 million in 2020. Now that is what I’d call a ROI!
If you’re wondering exactly how drones can save money on your solar assets, you’re in the right place.
In this article we will provide you the low-down of how infrared drone solar inspections are saving money for PV companies, O&M teams, and asset owners.
Table of Contents
1. Drone Inspections are Better than Manual Inspections
Inspecting PV systems with infrared equipped drones has been proven to be a faster, safer, and more detailed method than traditional electrical testing, I-V curve tracing, or handheld thermal imaging.
A study conducted by Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews concluded that aerial thermography is the best method of inspecting PV systems. They stated:
“Thermographic inspections are the most common method to detect faults at photovoltaic plants, being fast and simple to implement and obtaining results in real time, with no need to shut down the plant during the inspection.”
“Manual thermography presents some significant drawbacks. It is a costly and time-consuming technique and there are some situations in which it is hard to detect the faulty cells.”
“The application of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in thermographic inspections of photovoltaic modules
is a major advancement in O&M activities of PV plants.”
“The rapid growth of photovoltaic power capacity and the tendency to construct bigger PV sites with higher capacity make development of innovative techniques necessary, such as aerial thermography…”
“The application of aerial thermography at photovoltaic plants needs to be understood not just as an innovative technique to save time and money, but as a necessary technique to be able to assess production.”
What's included in YOUR GUIDE...
Techniques for Exposing Warrantiable Items on Your PV Sites.
A Proven Roadmap for Successfully Implementing Drones in Solar.
Strategies for Identifying DC Losses and Avoiding Downtime.
2. Valuable Data
When a drone flies over a solar plant, hundreds or even thousands of data packed images are taken. These photos are run through a leading AI-powered software program that locates and identifies faults. An interactive map is also created of the entire PV system with each anomalie geo-tagged so technicians know exactly where to perform repairs.
“When you take a drone and you attach a thermal camera to it, you can actually collect very interesting thermal imagery of our photovoltaic plans and show exactly where faults and anomalies might be. It saves us money and an enormous amount of time.” – Sander Cohan, Director of Innovation, Enel Green Power North America
The data is also very beneficial for preemptive maintenance as 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.
3. Warranty Claims
When submitting warranty claims to PV manufacturers, it is crucial to provide detailed data and proof of the underperforming modules. Luckily, infrared drone images make it easy to find defects from cell to string level.
Our comprehensive aerial inspections quickly and accurately identify warrantable issues and deliver a detailed, actionable report that can be used to submit a warranty claim.
The inspections are also in compliance with IEC TS 62446-3 thermography standards set by the International Electrotechnical Commission.
“Aerial thermography has re-shaped solar O&M. Drones and thermal cameras are great tools, but without precise post-processing and reporting, it can still be time-consuming to work on thermal images… this is a great commissioning and warranty inspection tool.” – Serdar Soytok, Head of Engineering and Development, Captona
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.
Infrared cameras attached to drones are able to inspect a solar farm much more quickly than traditional methods. One study conducted by Aerodyne Measure found drone inspections of PV systems to be on average 97% more efficient and saved around $1254 per MW.
For more information about inspection levels and pricing, schedule a consultation with a drone expert.
What's included in YOUR GUIDE...
Techniques for Exposing Warrantiable Items on Your PV Sites.
A Proven Roadmap for Successfully Implementing Drones in Solar.
Strategies for Identifying DC Losses and Avoiding Downtime.
