Drones Take Off in Solar and Wind Inspections

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More and more, drones are taking to the skies with advanced sensors and camera imaging to inspect solar and wind farms. 

A report by Frost & Sullivan found that drones and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are being used to:

  • Quickly capture images from vantage points not easily reached by humans

  • Identify hotspots caused by failing diodes

  • Perform maintenance, remote inspection, and troubleshooting

  • Enhance plant performance and minimize production loss

  • Create documentation for warranty claims and insurance

  • Initiate predictive maintenance

  • Predict pre-failure anomalies

  • Reduce investment risk

  • Increase worker safety

  • Adapt to COVID-19 travel and other restrictions 

And drones are being combined with other emerging technologies to make the drone inspections even more powerful.

  • Using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify potential problems found in captured data

  • Tapping into 5G networks to transfer data and achieve the low-delay needed by this inspection tech

  • Storing data in the cloud 

  • Giving technicians a virtual environment with AR/VR

  • Doing remote analysis using digital twins

While many solar and wind farms already are equipped with various IoT sensors that measure vibration, weather, and other factors, operators prefer to supplement those with remote visual inspections. 

Once visual data is collected, it’s processed through a combination of AI, AR/VR, and human interpretation. Technology is advancing to where operators are close to being able to conduct inspections without the need for human intervention.

Human inspections are more costly in terms of travel and can result in errors. Aerial inspections are quicker, more cost-effective, and more predictable than boots-on-the-ground manual inspections. 

Aerial inspections are also more thorough than other inspection methods. It’s not uncommon for human-captured imagery to be unclear, causing delays and difficulties in further diagnosis and damage analysis. And while traditional I-V curve tracing (current–I–and voltage–V) and voltage current inspection can be useful in identifying some symptoms of underperformance, it’s time-consuming, hard to interpret and act on findings, risky to workers, and often under detects defects.

Drone imaging combined with the software capabilities to interpret and act on results will help solar and wind farm operators save money, inspect more frequently, better predict preventive maintenance, and improve safety. 

The potential for drones in renewable energy continues to be sky high. 

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Want more drones and robotics in your life? Join us for the Renewable Energy Robotics & UAS Forum on October 26, which is collocated with the Energy Drone & Robotics Summit.