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Infrared Drone Solar Inspections

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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.

Drones in solar Energy

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.

Maintaining Solar Assets With Drones
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.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE NOW!

The Benefits of Using Drones for Solar Inspections​​

1 %

Reduction in inspection time

1 %

Accuracy in anomaly identification

1 %

Decrease in inspection costs

Visual & Thermal Images

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.

Output Efficiency

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.

Detailed Reports

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.

Inspection Time

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%.

Historical Data

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.

Steps to Achieving Maximum Energy Production

Step 1 - Contact

We’ll answer any questions you may have and share all the details of what to expect, from the equipment we use, types of data we collect, and deliverables we provide.

Step 2 - Choose a Package Level

You’ll compare and choose the right package level for your needs and we’ll be there every step of the way.

Step 3 - Proposal

Provide us with general information of your PV system including site name, size, and mounting type to receive a free same day quote tailored specifically for your project.

Step 4 - Aerial Thermography Inspection

Using our best-in-class drone technology, our experienced pilots will conduct the aerial inspection.

Step 5 -Recieve an In-depth Report

Discover the located fault types, number of modules affected, estimated affected DC, estimated annual loss in revenue, and more.

Step 6 - Deploy Maintenance Team

Using a site map and geo-referenced photos, your O&M team will be able to easily locate and remediate all issues.

Here's what we provide

  • Insurance up to 1 Million Dollars
  • In-depth Reports
  • Simple Contracts
  • Easily Shareable Deliverables
  • Drone Law & Airspace Knowledge
  • Infrared & RGB Images
  • 4K Ultra HD Video
  • Professionally Edited Photos & Video

Our Inspections Detect

Cell Anomalies

A hot spot occurring with square geometry in a single cell.

Soiling

Dirt, dust, or other debris on the surface of a module.

Cracks

Cracking on module surface.

Inverter Anomalies

Faults in contiguous strings matching the inverter layout.

Module Delamination

A module anomaly due to compromised adhesion between glass, encapsulant, active layers, and/or back layers.

String Outages

An entire string is offline.

Shawdowing

Sunlight is obstructed by vegetation.

Combiner Anomalies

Faults in contiguous strings matching the combiner layout.

Module Failures

An entire module is offline.

Vegetation

Modules are blocked by vegetation.

Diode Anomalies

An activated bypass diode, typically 1/3 of module.

Broken Ballasts

A broken ballast.

Reverse Polarity

Module anomaly due to incorrect wiring.

Junction Box Anomalies

A hot spot at the junction box location on the module.

Internal short circuit

Multiple cell anomalies as a result of a short circuit.

Circuit Anomalies

A series of adjacent offline strings.

Underperforming Strings

A string that is underperforming compared to an adjacent operational string.

Tracker Faults

Tilt tracker position affecting power production.

PV SYSTEM INSPECTION DELIVERABLES

What You'll Receive

  • An Interactive color-coded map of the PV system with every anomaly geo-referenced
  • Estimated annual impact of lost revenue if anomalies stayed unresolved
  • Estimated annual impact in kWh
  • Estimated affected DC
  • Number of anomalies and modules affected
  • A reference-table table describing the different types of anomalies
  • An exportable PDF report document for each plant inspection containing all analytics, findings tables, and image associated with each anomaly
  • An exportable CSV, KML, and SHP report file for office and field use

In 2020...

1 Million

Modules were inspected using thermal drone cameras

1 %

Of those analyzed modules had faults. (2,104,672)

$ 1 Million

Of yearly potential revenue would be lost if identified anomalies stayed unresolved

Data Provided by Raptor Maps

Most Commonly Discovered PV Faults

Fault Type Percentage of PV Faults
Tracker
31.2%
String
25.9%
Combiner
9.4%
Inverter
6.9%
Cell Multi
5.2%
Diode
4.6%
Shading
4.3%
Cell
3.6%
Vegetation
3.6%
Soiling
1.3%

Our Clients

Solar Drone Services
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Our Clients

Commercial Solar Drone Services ​
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Powin Logo
Powerflex Renewables Logo
AMERESCO Logo
Convergent Logo
Energix Renewables Logo
TIGO Logo
Advanced Solar Products Logo
Solar Landscape Logo
Tri-Force Energy Logo
CS Energy Logo
MYR Energy Services Logo
CTEC Logo
Lightsource BP Logo

Start Your Journey Toward 100% Energy Production

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Maintaining Solar Assets With Drones
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.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE NOW!
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Have questions? We have answers!

  1. Drone inspections cost less than manual inspections
  2. Inspection time is 70% faster
  3. Improves preventive maintenance by locating the tracking faults over time
  4. Reports display annual financial loss if anomalies stay unresolved
  5. No plant downtime required
  6. Actionable data for warranty claims

Aerial inspections can identify 100% of faults and identify the type of fault with 99% accuracy. Compared to manual inspections, drones have a much lower inspection time and provide more accurate data. Operations and maintenance teams can also effortlessly identify the location of anomalies with our detailed maps of the solar plant.

Yes. Warranty inspections usually require a thorough review of every module within the solar plant. 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.

When aerial inspections are performed instead of manual dc inspections, technicians spend less time in the field accessing combiner boxes, inverters, and modules. Drone thermal data can pinpoint where anomalies occur resulting in a more efficient workload for technicians as manual testing is only performed on the impaired areas of the PV system.

In just one solar farm inspection, a large scale solar maintenance service provider had saved 778 man-hours from switching to aerial inspections.

The length of time for an inspection depends on the size of the site. Drones are the quickest and most efficient way of inspecting PV systems and can accomplish what would take manual IV curve testing 1 day in 1 hour. From our data, drones can cover anywhere between 10-50MW in a single day.

7-10 business days.

No. Manual inspections of solar plants can require scheduled downtime which results in lost revenue. With aerial inspections, drones are able to perform the inspection without the need to shut down the solar plant.

Yes. Our comprehensive solar inspections comply with the  IEC TS 62446-3 thermography standards set by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the world’s leading organization that publishes standards for all electronic related technologies.

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Maintaining Solar Assets With Drones

A Proven Roadmap of Success for Implementing Drones on PV Sites.

DOWNLOAD FREE GUIDE