Index

1. Compatible equipment

2. General Flight procedure

3. Configurations and Flight times

4. Flight mission on Single axis tracker plants

5. Example of flight plan using DJI Pilot 2

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Compatible equipment

2. General Flight procedure

The flight to capture thermal and visual images for the inspection of a solar plant is performed with a standard photogrammetric flight plan.

Type of flight: photogrammetric

• Image capture: thermal + visual (whenever possible)
• Overlap (frontal/lateral):
  • 3 cm/pixel: 75/75 %
  • 4 cm/pixel: 75/75 %
  • 5 cm/pixel: 70/70 %
• GSD: 3-5 cm/pixel.
• Real time Terrain follow: yes. Not necessary when inspecting industrial roofing
• Direction: parallel to plant aisles
  • Fixed ~ 90º (East - West)
  • 1 axis ~ 0º (North - South)
  • 2 axis ~ 90 º
  • Industrial roofing: 90 º
• Camera angle: the nose of the drone must be pointing in the direction of flight, i.e. the image must look like this:

VERY IMPORTANT: The option “Custom camera angle” must be deactivated. If not, processing of the images may fail and a reflight may be necessary

• Image capture interval: minimum possible
• Gimbal pitch: -90º (Zenithal)

Additional images:

• Cover image: An aerial view image of the plant

• Dirt image: A close-up image of the modules taken with the drone that shows their cleanliness

• Image showing that the sky is completely clear
• Image of the irradiance meter. The flight will only be valid if the irradiance is above 600W/m²
• Image of the anemometer

Important notes

• In 1/2 axis tracker plants, don’t fly if the angle between the solar panel and the ground is greater than 30º. The more horizontal the modules are, the better the quality of the inspection.

Incorrect flight. Notice the shadow of the panels in the center of the image. This means the sun is in a low position and the panels are too tilted

Correct flight

• It is important to always leave a margin of 15-20 meters to the panels, in order to ensure the coverance of 100% of the plant’s modules.

VERY IMPORTANT: The option “Custom camera angle” must be deactivated. If not, processing of the images may fail and a reflight may be necessary

3. Configurations and Flight times

A flight day has a maximum of 4.5 flying hours. This means, there are 4.5 hours where the solar irradiance is over 650 W/m2 approximately. Tipycally, this ranges from 11:30 to 16 hours.

Knowing this, we can calculate how many hectare per day can be flown. The following chart shows a comparisson of different drones and flight configurations.