Drone Tech Improving Efficiency of Renewables

As renewable energy gains momentum in the national energy mix, Industry 4.0 supports its development through the introduction of innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, cloud services and drone inspections. Aerospec Technologies, a Boston-based data analytics company, is looking to expand its O&M services in the Mexican solar industry within this niche. “Traditional O&M service companies take 45 days to complete inspection processes at a solar PV utility-scale project. We finish this process in a span of three days and at a fraction of our competitors’ total cost,” says Luis Escobedo, Country Manager of Aerospec Technologies.
The company’s core service consists of thermal imaging drone inspection that turns raw data into specific analyses related to preventive maintenance in utility-scale projects. “The data management platform translates color gradient temperatures into the exact fault of each defective panel, such as glass fractures, shading, hot spot, bypass diode, string outage and disconnection,” says Escobedo.
Aerospec Technologies was founded by Lance Li, a Chinese student who incubated the company at Harvard Innovation Labs in 2015. To date, the company serves some of the largest operating solar plants in the US and China and is backed by investors like Pritzker Group Venture Capital. According to Escobedo, the company has high-profile external advisers that are experts in raising capital and nurturing companies.
According to the 2017 Greentech Media’s Latin America PV Playbook, Latin America’s share of global solar demand is expected to hit 6.2 percent by 2018. Mexico, in particular, will have the largest project pipeline with 4GW to be developed between 2018 and 2019, which is why Escobedo started contacting O&M companies in the country to showcase Aerospec Technologies’ proposal. The company delivered a 5MW demo inspection for Enel Green Power México at its Villanueva solar park located in Coahuila. With this demo, we identified that 2 percent of the scanned panels did not work properly. If you extrapolate this to 823MW, it results in 16MW of lost generation,” Escobedo says.
Escobedo is confident that these inspection demos will attract more clients to the company’s product portfolio. In a case study developed by the company at a 100MW solar park located in the US, 3,500 faulty PV panels were identified and repaired, avoiding an estimated replacement cost of US$1 million. He also wants to replicate the company’s US operational scheme in Mexico. “We offer our clients insured drones and cameras. An insurance policy for third-party damages is also mandatory because if a drone falls on a panel, it could break the whole stream, representing a total loss,” he says. “Our drone pilots are certified so they can do their job properly; our main objective is to provide a professional service.”
The company is already seeing high demand for O&M services in the wind energy segment, which is a segment Escobedo predicts will develop further in 2H19. According to Aerospec Technologies, wear and tear on blades can lead to between 10-25 percent in productivity losses. The company also provides wind turbine blade inspection services, which lead to timely repairs to extend the asset’s lifespan by reducing operating costs. “We have not introduced this business segment in Mexico yet because I want to develop a good reputation in the solar segment first,” Escobedo explains. “Additionally, you need bigger and more expensive drones for this purpose, as well as having a good provider in the region.” In growth terms, the company wants to consolidate a solar portfolio of 3GW and open its commercial representation office in the country by the end of 2019.