S O L A R F I E L D I N S P E C T I O N

O P E R AT I O N A L E F F I C I E N C Y

TRADITIONAL COMMERCIAL PV INSPECTIONS

Methods

• I-V curve tracing and site walkdowns

• Handheld thermal imaging

• Incomplete documentationChallenges

• Labor intensive

• Large areas (10–1,000+ acres)

• Safety risks

• Geographically spread out

Credit: Raptormaps.com

DRONE SOLUTIONS SAVE TIME?

• Inspection time minutes/hours versus

days/weeks

• Single person can perform the work

• AI software to pinpoint problem areas

• Easily access remote areas

Performing a solar inspection with hand held IR and test

equipment is like painting the San Francisco bridge. Once

you got done, you’d need to start over!

WHAT CAN YOU SEE FROM A DRONE?

Credit: Raptormaps.com

DRONE IR INSPECTIONS ARE UTILIZED FOR• Routine operations and

maintenance (O&M)

• Commissioning

• Troubleshooting

• Warranty claims

• Asset transfer

Credit: Raptormaps.com

WHO USES THE DATA?

• Financiers

• Asset Owners

• Performance Managers

• Performance Analysts

• Field Technicians

Credit: Raptormaps.com

PV SYSTEM NOMENCLATURE

• Civil

• Physical layout

• Terms like: block, row, rack, table

• Electrical

• Wiring layout

• Terms like: substation, inverter,

combiner box, string, module, cell

Credit: Raptormaps.com

FLYING

B E S T P R AC T I C E S

WHAT MAKES DATA “HIGH QUALITY”

Planning

• Proper equipment

• High irradiance

• Decent weather

Execution

• Low glare, no motion blur

• Collected radiometric jpeg

• Correct ground resolution

• Good flight overlaps

• Complete site coverage

Bonus Optimizations

• Time in field

• Number of batteries

File format: Radiometric JPEG (preferred)

or thermal TIFF

Credit: Raptormaps.com

THERMAL IMAGES: TARGET RESOLUTION

Cell level anomaly identification: 2” (5 cm) /pixel or less

Module level anomaly identification: 6” (15 cm) /pixel or lessCell level with Zenmuse XT 640x512 13mm

g = 0.164 feet/pixel (5 cm/pixel)

p = 640 pixels

� = 45° (0.785 radians)

h = 127 feet (39 meters)

g: target resolution

p: number of pixels

� = field of view

h: altitude

Credit: Raptormaps.com

SOL AR INSPECTION10 ACRE SITE 660FT X 660FT( 2 0 0 M X 2 0 0 M )

C A S E S T U DY

Max Recommended Flight Speed at 39m (130ft) AGL:5 m/s (16.4ft/s) or 18kph (11mph)

CAMERA ORIENTATION: PERPENDICULAR

• Align long axis of camera with the solar row

Correct Not ideal

Credit: Raptormaps.com

THERMAL IMAGE OVERLAP

• 80% front overlap

(direction of flight)

• 20% side overlap

• 5cm/pixel (130 ft AGL)

Flight Direction

80% front overlap

20%

Overlap

SOL AR INSPECTION63 IMAGESNO OVERL AP

6 4 0 X 5 1 2 1 3 M M 1 2 0 F T AG L

1 . 9 8 P I X E L / I N C H

SOL AR INSPECTION~335 IMAGES 80% HORIZ . OVERL AP20% VERT. OVERL AP11- PASSES~10-11 MINUTES

6 4 0 X 5 1 2 1 3 M M 1 3 0 F T AG L

1 . 9 8 P I X E L / I N C H

SOL AR INSPECTION~670 IMAGES 80% HORIZ . OVERL AP20% VERT. OVERL AP22- PASSES~20 MINUTES

3 3 6 X 2 5 6 1 3 M M 1 2 0 F T AG L

1 . 9 8 P I X E L / I N C H 1 2 0 F T AG L

6,345 IMAGES47 PASSES25FT ALTITUDE

1 6 0 X 1 2 0 I R AT 1 . 9 8

I N C H E S / P I X E L

SOLAR SUMMARY

Drones With Thermal Cameras Are Becoming Standard

Practice

• Increasing Efficiency at All Stages of PV Lifecycle

• Rapidly Detect Cell-level to Inverter-level Issues

• Follow Best Practices to Collect High-Quality Data

• Make Your Data Actionable and Accessible

• Machine Learning Makes Your System Standardized

and Scalable- Visit Raptormaps.com for more

information on processing images with applied

machine learning.

Topaz Solar Farm (Credit: First Solar Inc.)

Credit: Raptormaps.com