Xcel Energy Deploys Drone-in-a-Box Solution For Solar Farm Inspections
Posted: 2024-10-1
Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company, serving millions of customers across several states. They already lead the way in renewable energy solutions and recently introduced a cutting-edge approach to solar farm inspections. By integrating with FlytBase’s advanced software along with DJI Docks, supplied by Frontier Precision, they aim to revolutionize their solar panel maintenance and ensure optimal efficiency at their solar farms. This state-of-the-art system enables scheduled inspections, thermal data collection, and proactive fault detection, setting a new standard for solar panel maintenance.
The new system improves the efficiency of monitoring construction progress and overall plant performance. FlytBase's technology captures critical data during drone flights, allowing Xcel Energy to control their docks seamlessly and ensure safe flight operations from the start of construction. This streamlined approach facilitates the efficient placement of docks on-site and provides valuable insights into solar farm performance.
Currently in the development phase, Xcel Energy is looking forward to significantly reducing the time and effort required for routine inspections with the help of FlytBase’s software. By improving fault detection and optimizing dock placement, this technology will help maintain peak performance at their solar farms, leading to maximum energy output.
"Big thanks to FlytBase for their support and incredible technology. We can't wait to see the full benefits once we deploy this in production. As we move towards end-to-end autonomous workflows, including fully BVLOS flights, scheduled missions, and comprehensive post-processing with FlytBase's Data Processing Flink, we are paving the way for the future of solar farm management—one flight at a time." - Thomas Stegge, Senior UAS Program Manager, Xcel Energy.
About FlytBase
At FlytBase, our mission is to lead the way in enabling drone autonomy for diverse commercial applications as the sky becomes increasingly busier with drones.
We are dedicated to building the world's leading enterprise-grade drone autonomy platform, that is modular and hardware-agnostic, and that sets the industry standard for seamless integration of hardware and apps.
The new system improves the efficiency of monitoring construction progress and overall plant performance. FlytBase's technology captures critical data during drone flights, allowing Xcel Energy to control their docks seamlessly and ensure safe flight operations from the start of construction. This streamlined approach facilitates the efficient placement of docks on-site and provides valuable insights into solar farm performance.
Currently in the development phase, Xcel Energy is looking forward to significantly reducing the time and effort required for routine inspections with the help of FlytBase’s software. By improving fault detection and optimizing dock placement, this technology will help maintain peak performance at their solar farms, leading to maximum energy output.
"Big thanks to FlytBase for their support and incredible technology. We can't wait to see the full benefits once we deploy this in production. As we move towards end-to-end autonomous workflows, including fully BVLOS flights, scheduled missions, and comprehensive post-processing with FlytBase's Data Processing Flink, we are paving the way for the future of solar farm management—one flight at a time." - Thomas Stegge, Senior UAS Program Manager, Xcel Energy.
About FlytBase
At FlytBase, our mission is to lead the way in enabling drone autonomy for diverse commercial applications as the sky becomes increasingly busier with drones.
We are dedicated to building the world's leading enterprise-grade drone autonomy platform, that is modular and hardware-agnostic, and that sets the industry standard for seamless integration of hardware and apps.
