Detailed
Thermal
Inspections
Quickly Reveal costly faults hidden within your Solar Asset, using the highest resolution aerial thermographic inspection with super-fast delivery of results.
Why Aerial Thermography reports?
When using traditional testing methods, latent defects within solar modules develop and remain undiscovered for years. This results in vast amounts of lost energy and money.
Aerial thermography reporting services provide owners with detailed data on the true condition of their asset. Such services save 100’s of man-hours on data collection and arbitrary testing as well as improving site efficiency and lowering operating costs.
When you commission an aerial thermal inspection from Futurewise aerial, 100% of the Solar asset is inspected during optimum conditions. This enables faults to be easily exposed, such as:
Inverter / Combiner box offline
Open Circuit Strings
Reversed polarity
Smashed Module front glass
Activated / blown diodes
PID (Potential Induced Degradation)
Delamination
Damaged Cells
1. Data capture
Our data capture workflow has been refined over the years and is designed to produce the best quality data. We use single image analysis, as opposed to video or orthomosaics (stitching images together to make a ‘map’), to capture the sharpest image possible. We fly lower for maximum resolution and up to 80% less time is required on-site.
Because our flights are meticulously planned and executed using cm GPS precision, future inspections are simplified, and historical analysis is possible at a granular level. This means that your initial inspection becomes a stable benchmark in preparation for multiple surveys over the lifecycle of the asset.
2. Identifying anomalies
The 1st part of our process is to carefully analyse every thermal anomaly in the captured data using AI algorithms and human quality control. This includes cross comparing to RGB data to avoid false positives, as well temperature analysis to aid prioritisation.
The results are categorised and assigned a severity level based on their urgency. For example, a single hot spot that was caused by some soiling (i.e. Birds Mess) will be tagged as such and these types of results can be quickly filtered to leave genuine faults highlighted. Another example would be to filter the data for severity level 5 (major efficiency loss, or a safety issue) to have the on-site crews act on as a matter of urgency.
3. Locating the fault
Solar farms contain many 1000’s of identical solar modules. Capturing and analysing the thermal results will be of limited use, without knowing the exact location of the fault.
Our process has a robust system to ensure any faulty modules are clearly marked with their precise location, which includes a module ‘address’ (string, row, table, module numbers etc), GPS location and ‘fault maps’. Our PDF reports also include the functionality of clicking a link and guide you directly to the correct position from a phone or tablet.
This means that operatives can return to site to attend to any remedial works, confident in the knowledge they are working on the correct module.
4. Report findings and data delivery
Amalgamating and reporting all the data is a big challenge, particularly to make the results easily actionable and manageable.
Therefore, our service includes:
Unlimited customised PDF and CSV reports.
CSV version of inspection results for management use.
Unlimited logins with various levels of permissions.
Cloud based data management platform for results visualisation, manipulation, historical analysis, sharing and actions.
Access to all RAW data.
PDF fault ‘map’
In association with our data partners Scopito, we adhere to the stringent requirements for Solar Aerial Thermography Best Practices.
The SolarPower Europe O&M Best Practices Guidelines is a benchmark document for solar O&M excellence in Europe and the world.
With a foundation of standards following IEC:62446-3 the objective is to enhance service quality, transparency and standardisation in the industry, which means you can rest assured you are receiving a service that complies.
CONTACT US NOW on email [email protected] or call 0333 990 9847
CLICK HERE to book your free online consultation and demonstration during which we will explain in detail how a detailed thermal inspection (including a professional, detailed, and thorough report) will reveal all the latent defects that are losing you money in your asset.
SOLAR SERVICES
CLOSE INSPECTION & SURVEY
MAPPING AND GIS
INSPECTION PORTAL
3D MODELLING
GROUND CONTROL SOFTWARE
CONSULTANCY AND TRAINING
DETAILED THERMAL INSPECTION
“The service and data delivered to us by Futurewise Aerial was top class. The findings saved us loads of time and lost efficiency, thanks.”
Ryan McShea – Empower Energy Ltd
