Drone Dispatch has been uniquely positioned as a drone services industry leader. One industry that is emerging and becoming more interesting from the drone perspective is the solar industry. There are a number of unique ways the solar energy industry can utilize. We at Drone Dispatch have reduced what drones can do for solar companies to “The Big Four”. Drones are capable of saving money, saving time, reducing risk, and providing additional utility in the solar industry.
Drones save money. They are less expensive than, and will be replacing truck rolls – the employee hours, fuel costs and other soft costs involved with sending people out in trucks to inspects sites. We also help save money by being able to perform regular low cost preventative maintenance inspections. This allows you to catch and prevent larger, more expensive problems before they become detrimental. Drones require significantly less time in the field. They produce a digital record that allows the company to review areas of interest in the field as well as in the office. Drones are also very capable of helping solar companies during the development of solar farms by providing a consistent aerial perspective that helps ensure all environmental requirements are met. This helps prevent slow downs and stoppages in development.
Drones are a significantly faster way to provide solar companies with inspections than traditional methods, allowing the firms who utilize them to save time. Bucket trucks and cranes with handheld thermal cameras inspecting each panel individually are the current go to method. This can take several days to complete large solar farms. Our drones produce a clear digital record of the inspection and can be referenced over time and allows the companies compared to new data coming in from preventative maintenance inspections. This allows companies to nip large, time consuming problems in the bud.
Drones reduce the risk of solar operations in a number of ways. The most obvious example of drones reducing risk in the solar space is their ability to reach locations that were safety hazards, or unreachable altogether before the utilization of drone technology. Bringing drones into the fold also reduces the probability of experiencing stalls or stoppages during the development of solar farms. Drones also reduce the chances having measurement errors.
Drones provide additional utility for solar firms. They allow many types of data to be simultaneously collected in a very short amount of time. Our drones also provide a unique double-edged approach where every functional mission serves as an opportunity to gather incredible media for the purpose of marketing and advertising. The incredible flexibility of drones allows for a great number of benefit stacking opportunities. Drones are also capable of producing 2D orthomosaic maps and 3D orthorectified models of sites. Another exciting utility drones can provide to the solar energy industry with is their ability to measure and determine the viability of houses to be outfitted with solar panels or shingles.
In conclusion, drones are capable of providing “The Big Four” for companies participating in the solar energy industry. “The Big Four” include saving time, saving money, reducing risk and providing additional utility. Drones do this by being more flexible, faster, more accurate and by being safer in the field than traditional competitors. Drones have not been widely incorporated into the flow of most solar companies yet. We at Drone Dispatch are enthusiastic about educating and helping solar companies incorporate drones into their organizations. We are excited to help bolster the solar industry in any way possible. The future is bright for the solar industry, and even brighter with drones in the picture.
