Integration of Drones in Solar Systems.
Written by Margarita Kyrkou, surveyor and GIS specialist at Wattcrop.
The commercial adoption of drones is growing quickly, and the solar industry is no exception. Drones provide a practical solution for inspecting solar installations, from residential to utility-scale. They can be used to manage the entire design, construction and operation cycle of a system.
Drones support business efforts to avoid hazardous man-hours; reduce costs for maintenance, inspections, and repairs; and maximize energy production. Valuable use cases have been proven across pre-construction, commissioning, and operations & maintenance for not only the PV system itself, but also for surrounding infrastructure like utility lines, substations, and fencing. They are a useful tool as they collect data up to 50 times faster than manual methods and ensure greater safety.