Drones · Montérégie

Solar farm thermal scan

2,000 panels scanned in one morning; 14 hot spots located for the maintenance crew.

Scope2,000 panels
DeliverableThermal map + report
Timeline2 days
ServiceDrones
Project details

A quick look at the job behind the deliverable.

ServiceSolar thermal inspection
LocationMontérégie
Scope2,000 panels
DeliverablesThermal map, annotated PDF, 1,100 stills
OutcomeThermal map + report
Delivered in2 days from flight to report
Problem

Output down 6% and no way to find the faulty panels

Solution

One thermal flight over the full array, each anomaly located by row and panel

Results

14 hot spots and 2 failed strings fixed in a week

Project overview

Find the faulty panels in a 2,000-panel array without walking it.

A solar farm in Montérégie had lost about 6% of expected output and no quick way to find out why. Walking the array with a handheld thermal camera would take a week; the operator wanted an answer in days.

The challenge

Clear skies, full sun and a scan that cannot stop production.

Thermal anomalies only show under strong sun, so the flight had to happen near solar noon on a clear day, over an array that stayed in production the whole time.

Flight plan

One radiometric thermal flight, 1,100 images, 90 minutes.

We flew a grid at 40 metres with a radiometric thermal camera and a visual camera side by side, capturing every panel twice. 1,100 image pairs in 90 minutes, pilot and observer on site.

The deliverable

A map of the array with every anomaly located by row and panel.

Two days later the operator had a thermal map, an annotated PDF and the raw images. Fourteen hot cells and two dead strings, each with a photo and a location the crew could walk to.

The results

One morning in the air, a week to full output.

The maintenance crew went straight to the 14 flagged panels and the two dead strings. The array was back to expected output within a week, and we scan it again every spring and fall.

2-day delivery

Flight on Tuesday, thermal map and report on Thursday.

14 hot spots found

Plus two failed strings, each located by row and panel.

0 h of downtime

The array stayed in production during the scan.

Scans twice a year

Spring and fall flights to catch new faults early.

Customer stories
We got a map of exactly which panels to fix, two days after the flight. The walk-through would have taken a week.

Jean-François B.

O&M Manager · Montérégie

More projects

Similar projects delivered by MG.

One lead, one crew, one deliverable. Here is more work from the same team.

Laval plant launch, live

Multimedia · Laval · 3 weeks

Longueuil cold-chain pilot

IIoT · Longueuil · 5 days
Ready when you are
Bilingual team, EN / FRTransport Canada certified pilotsWritten scope and fixed quote in 48 hSupport and training after delivery

Want a project like one of these?

Twenty minutes is enough to know what your project needs.

Get a quote [email protected]