The use of drones and digital thermal cameras allows inspections to be carried out to optimise the operation and maintenance of photovoltaic plants.

Using thermographic inspection with drones, faults or hot spots in a solar panel can be detected. Carrying out a quick inspection to find these faults is very important, since on a roof or land where there may be hundreds of panels together, we would hardly be able to detect them with traditional methods since it would be unfeasible due to time and cost.

A hot spot can appear in a cell of the photovoltaic module because there is excessive heating in a junction, in the cell itself or in the wiring of the string. This is because an excess of current is flowing at that point for some reason, which if not corrected, will damage the cell or the wiring and consequently reduce the power through the affected panel considerably, from 33% to 100%. In the worst case, it can lead to a short circuit and its possible complications such as a fire. If a panel has faults due to hot spots, thanks to the thermographic diagnosis and subsequent analysis of the data, a report will be produced to claim the warranty from the manufacturer.

With Drones we can carry out the inspection and maintenance of wind turbine blades. Use of drones for monitoring power lines. Applied thermography for controlling energy transport efficiency in high and medium voltage lines.