Drones Are Being Used by Major Solar Power Plants for Panel Inspection

Drone Inspections Identify Issues Such as Overheating and Electric Current Intensity

Drones are being used in the solar energy field as a way to monitor the panels. The aircraft is the most comprehensive model with visual analysis data, making it possible to find defects in solar panels through visual inspection, design the system installation, and even find the root cause of the problem.

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Through this technology, the time for identifying problems has been significantly reduced, resulting in increased operation time. There are drones capable of performing visual inspections and 2D and 3D mapping by transforming simple images into live, georeferenced photos. Through this, it is possible to accurately calculate the area size and also the volume.

“For visual inspection, there are simpler drones that are sufficient. The aircraft has two axes, with GPS and a camera starting from 12 MP. They also create 3D modeling of houses or buildings at the correct scale with objects that cause shading. In this case, if it is a house with a solar panel, for example, the equipment will cover the entire lateral aspect of the project, calculating altitude and the position of the sun for better panel positioning,” said Henrique Freitas, one of the responsible for DJI’s business in Brazil along with Go Solar, a branch of Golden Distribuidora, which offers various types of drones to the solar market.

Additionally, drones have thermal sensors capable of identifying cell failures by heat spectrum. There is a red marking that occurs whenever the cells are overheating. There is also the possibility of identifying the intensity of the electric current, detecting any overload issues.

However, the costs are not so accessible. Henrique states that, “there are simpler drones suitable for visual inspection of panels costing R$ 40 thousand up to the most sophisticated ones that average R$ 200 thousand.”

There are other precautions to highlight. According to the specialist, the aircraft varies in range from four kilometers to ten kilometers, so you should never lose sight of the equipment. It is prepared to return home by itself, with sufficient battery; even so, it is important and mandatory to keep it within your visual range according to aviation regulations for drones in these categories.