The value of a PV power plant relies heavily on the solar technology performing to its promised yield. But these large-scale operations have traditionally been difficult to monitor for faults, defective or degraded PV modules; a 100% technical inspection is unfeasible. There are now a number of technology innovations that are being used to inspect PV onsite with portable test equipment. In Australia, drones play an important part in identifying underperforming power plants.
In the past, suspect solar modules in a PV power plant would need to be dismantled and shopped to offsite laboratories to assess, resulting in a lengthy downtime of the PV string, and risk of damage during transport.
Recent monitoring innovations, including rapid advances in infrared inspection with drones, makes it possible to obtain an overall picture of the status of an operational PV array, as well as identifying specific PV strings or modules for further detailed analysis using mobile PV test centres. These onsite inspection methods allow a more targeted analysis of failure as PV modules are not blindly selected. Additionally, the quality and significance of the on-site inspection results are comparable to that of traditional laboratory tests.
The full press release can be found here.