Leveraging Drone Technology for More Efficient Solar Panel Inspections

In the solar energy sector, drone technology is making significant waves. Implementing drones offers significant improvements in the inspection and maintenance of solar panels. Our experience shows that drones can inspect solar farms up to 400% faster than traditional methods. Let’s look more closely at how drone solar panel inspection can help the industry operate more efficiently.

Using Drones for Solar Panel Inspection

Solar panel inspections help ensure optimal performance and longevity of solar farms. Traditional methods, which often involve manual inspections, are labour-intensive and time-consuming. Drones, equipped with advanced imaging technologies such as ultrasonic, vision sensor, infrared, LiDAR, and monocular vision, offer a more efficient and precise alternative and can also be used in conjunction with traditional methods. The drone laws in UAE are constantly evolving and using drones on your own land for inspection purposes is completely legal and does not contravene any regulations around privacy and safety. Partnering with our experts ensures the legal and regulatory requirements are always met and if you’re ready to consider drones for your solar operations, let’s look closer at exactly how they can help.

Efficiency and Speed

Drones can drastically reduce the time required for solar panel inspections. For instance, at the Muhammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, inspecting 900,000 solar panels manually took about two months. Using our drones, we cut the time down to just five days, showcasing a 400% improvement in efficiency. This rapid inspection capability allows for more frequent checks, ensuring that issues are detected and addressed promptly.

Safety and Accessibility

Equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging sensors, drones can detect issues such as hot spots, micro-cracks, and panel degradation with high precision. This level of detail surpasses what can be achieved through manual inspections, enabling more proactive and effective maintenance strategies. The ability to quickly identify and address issues helps maintain the efficiency and output of solar farms.

Data Accuracy

The technologies used by drones, from high-resolution cameras to advanced sensors such as ultrasound, ensure the highest level of data can be collected. The level of detail surpasses most manual methods of surveillance and inspection, and it allows you to put in place early maintenance or preventative measures so issues such as micro-cracks or the beginnings of degradation are dealt with before they become a significant (and expensive) issue.

Sustainability

Understanding drones and sustainability in the solar industry involves looking at how these technologies minimise your overall carbon footprint. Manual inspections often require transportation, scaffolding, and other equipment, all of which contribute to environmental degradation. Drones are simply powered by electricity and can even be recharged using solar energy, making them a greener alternative. The ability of drones to detect faults earlier also helps to prevent energy loss which allows the solar panels to operate at peak efficiency contributing to the overall environmental benefits of solar power.

Implementing Drone Solar Panel Inspections

To successfully implement drone inspections, several factors must be considered, including the choice of drones, sensors, and the overall inspection strategy. Our Drone Inspection Playbook brings together comprehensive guidance on these integral aspects of successful drone inspection, much of which is fully applicable to the solar industry. Here we’re covering some of the key elements so you can better understand the real-world application of drones for your solar plant or farm.

Choosing the Right Drone and Sensors

Different inspection scenarios require different drone capabilities. For example, the DJI M350 RTK, equipped with dual zoom thermal cameras, offers a smart solution for solar panel inspections. This setup allows for the simultaneous collection of visual, thermal, and other relevant data in a single flight, significantly enhancing inspection efficiency and data quality.

Strategic Planning and Execution

Successful drone inspections need to be properly planned and executed. Our process involves a thorough technical interview with stakeholders to establish inspection goals, perform site assessments, and develop detailed flight plans. By segmenting the inspection area into manageable blocks and using automated flight paths, inspectors can ensure comprehensive coverage and avoid overlaps. We follow this up with a full site assessment, allowing us to gather relevant location information, to allow for effective and accurate mission planning.

Safety

Safety remains a priority for any kind of inspection, whether using drones or not. We recommend that all inspection teams conduct thorough site assessments to familiarise themselves with the environment. Without prior knowledge of hazards, teams might inadvertently drive into dangerous areas, jeopardising both their safety and the mission.

When it comes to flying, even though most drones are automated, we emphasise the importance of maintaining a visual line of sight at all times. Collision avoidance systems are reliable, but they can occasionally fail due to external factors like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). Therefore, our pilots are always prepared to take manual control if necessary. A practical tip we follow is to stand oriented in the same direction as the drone, reducing reaction time and allowing for instinctive control adjustments to ensure the drone’s safety.

We also recommend dispatching teams of two members per drone—a pilot and a spotter. The spotter monitors the drone’s systems and keeps a visual on the flight path while the pilot focuses on flying the aircraft. This teamwork is particularly necessary during complex inspections. By adhering to this two-person rule, we ensure both the drone’s safety and the efficient collection of useful data.

Execution

In the execution phase, we rely heavily on detailed checklists. We recommend drafting comprehensive checklists and following them systematically to reduce the chance of failure. During the preparation phase, we aim to eliminate as many variables as possible that could necessitate on-the-fly decision-making.

We use three main checklists:

1. Operational Prerequisites Checklist
2. Main Equipment Checklist
3. Supporting Equipment Checklist

We follow our checklists to the letter and discuss their usage in much more depth in our Drone Inspection Playbook.

Driving efficiency and sustainability in solar power

Incorporating drones into your inspection processes for solar power plants and farms can help with efficiency, sustainability and budget management. At FEDS drone-powered solutions we bring together experts in the latest solar farm technologies with state-of-the-art drone inspection equipment, making it seamless to integrate drones into your solar farm management. Reach out today to learn more!