Overview
The rapid growth of solar farms demands a cost-effective, innovative way to maximize efficiency. Drones are revolutionizing the solar industry with technology to conduct photovoltaic panel surveillance by scanning for panel outages 4000x faster than standard methods. We will investigate solar farms’ business models, use of drones, inspection techniques, and the costs of these techniques. The team will then draft a comprehensive review of current and projected use of solar drone technology to monitor and repair utility-scale photovoltaic solar facilities. Through our work, we hope to advocate for continued expansion of clean energy by demonstrating the potential of solar drone maintenance.
Team: Nour Abou Fadel, Huong Le, Laurence Ng-Cordell, Lillian Wherry, Wentao Wu, Heng Wah Zeng
Advisor: Peter Kareiva
Client: ADEPT / Gimball-Prod