An Australian university (ANU) has been the first to trial intelligent drones for automated inspection of solar power plants.

The project is an industry-researcher collaboration funded by the Australian government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) developing a cost-effective robotic inspection system for automated monitoring of concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) power plants using cameras mounted on ground and aerial drones.

The project, which commenced in 2016, is the first time that a flock of drones carrying optical sensors, such as optical, polarisation and thermal cameras, laser scanners, empowered by intelligent computer vision solutions has been deployed for automated inspection of solar power plant facilities. Advanced data driven and deep learning based visual data analysis techniques contribute to the accuracy of measurement and detection.

Improving energy production capacity and decreasing long-term operating expenses will make large-scale solar power plant facilities more attractive investments and therefore boost the Australian renewable and clean energy sector. The visual inspection technology has the potential to provide automated and affordable inspection solutions for smaller-scale household roof-top PV installations as well.