Find the panels that have stopped making power.
A panel that has failed, or part of one, runs at a different temperature from the panels around it. Flown in strong sun, our thermal camera reads every panel in the array, and the zoom shows what is on the glass. You get each one we find, where it sits in the array, and its photos.
Opening for commercial work in the first quarter of 2027.
Why a drone
From the ground you see one panel at a time, and only its glass. From the air the thermal camera takes in whole rows at once, so the panel that differs from its neighbors stands out. We take arrays of any size, from a barn roof to a solar farm, and the array at our own farm in Ghent is where we fly it first.
What we look for
A hot cell or a hot spot
Part of a panel running hotter than the rest of it, from a crack, a fault in the cell, or something stuck on the glass.
A panel or a string that is off
A whole panel, or a run of them, at a different temperature from the rows around it. That usually means it isn't feeding the rest of the array.
Damage you can see
Cracked glass, read close from the zoom camera.
Dirt and shade
Dust, droppings, or grass and trees grown up into the light. Dust is the one a wash can take off.
Looking after an estate? One visit can check the buildings, heat pumps, generator, grounds, water, fences and panels. Estate Visits
When we fly, and what thermal can't tell you
When we fly
In strong sun, near the middle of the day, when the panels are working hard. Under cloud a fault can fade from view, so cloud stops the flight and we come back.
What it can't tell you
Thermal shows a panel that is different. It doesn't say why, and a panel can read warm for a reason that isn't a fault.
Before anything is replaced, an electrician or your installer confirms it.
What an inspection gets you
What you get
| The report | Each panel or string we found, by where its photo was taken and, if you send the array's layout, by your own row and panel numbers. A thermal photo and an ordinary photo of each. |
| What a finding says | What we saw, in words: Hot cell, Panel off, String off, Cracked glass, Dirty or Shaded |
| How it reaches you | An email tells you when the report is ready and what was found. It is kept with the array's previous inspections, so a new fault stands apart from an old one. |
| To send on | The list of findings copies as text, with a map link for each, to send to your electrician or installer |
| The thermal files | You get the original thermal files too, for as long as we keep them |
| Off DJI's cloud | If your site needs its photos kept off the drone maker's cloud, we fly it with a drone we launch by hand and upload them straight to our own storage. How that works |
| The aircraft | The Matrice 30T, launched at your array, or the Matrice 4TD from a dock on your property. Both carry thermal and zoom cameras. |
| At the site | We follow your site's access and safety rules around live electrical equipment. Nothing touches the panels. |
A wash after an inspection
Inspect, then clean
If dust is what we find, a wash with deionized water from the T100 can follow, at the hour your panel maker's guidance allows, and the report shows those rows before and after. Solar Cleaning & Snow Clearing