Case study / Alberta / Thermal screening
150,000 solar panels screened in a single day
Utility scale solar thermal screening covering roughly 150,000 panels in one operating day, running as a recurring semi annual program for the operator.
The challenge
Utility scale solar arrays are too large to assess panel by panel from the ground. Walking a site of this size with a handheld thermal camera is a multi week exercise, and by the time it finishes the earliest readings are stale. The operator needed current, whole site thermal coverage inside a single operating window.
The site
A utility scale array in Alberta, flown as continuous automated coverage across the full field of panels.
Equipment and method
Mavic 3T radiometric thermal on automated grid coverage, flown in the window where panel temperature differentials are strongest and the whole array can be assessed against a consistent baseline. Flight lines and altitude were fixed across the site so every panel was captured to the same specification.
Airspace and safety
Rural airspace with the flight plan built around array geometry and access roads rather than around obstacles.
Deliverables
Georeferenced thermal coverage of the full array, thermal anomalies located by position, and raw radiometric imagery for the client's own analysis workflow.
Result
Roughly 150,000 panels screened in a single day, giving the operator a current whole site picture rather than a rolling partial one. The program now runs semi annually, and because the capture specification is held constant each screening compares directly against the last.
Project statistics
- Panels screened
- ~150,000
- Duration
- One operating day
- Frequency
- Semi annual program
- Sensor
- Radiometric thermal
- Coverage
- Full array, single baseline
- Handover
- Georeferenced + raw
Named references are provided during scoping, so you can speak directly to a client who has run this kind of work.