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Solar farm monitoring

Another application for which GeoWork was streamlined is the monitoring of solar farms. Indeed, a typical way to detect solar panel malfunctions is by the use of drones equipped with thermal cameras to find hot spots. Then, a team of technicians must be deployed to fix issues. This is typically a situation in which GeoWork excels.

Here is an example of scenario: on a regular basis, a drone pilot flies over the solar farm and provides thermal geotagged orthomosaics of it. These orthomosaics are then added to Geowork, so that:

  • Everybody in the team can access them
  • The health of solar panels can be monitor over time by comparing orthomosaics at different dates

Then, points of interest (POI) like hot spots are created as markers in Geowork and a team of workers can be deployed to process them. The system of markers of Geowork, with its possibility to assign people, add comments and photos or keep a trace of all changes, allows to smoothly coordinate the team. At any time it's possible to know exactly which panel was replaced and which needs an intervention. For workers, finding POIs on the field is simple thanks to the GPS location on the map and the compass.

Here is an example of such a process.

Owner​

  1. The solar farm owner creates a GeoWork account if not yet - Here is how to create an account and here is how to get a commercial license.
  2. The owner creates a project dedicated to the solar farm to monitor - Here are instructions to create a project.
  3. The owner invites the supervisor in charge of the monitoring - If the owner and the person supervising the monitoring are different people, so the supervisor is invited to the project as a "Manager" (see roles). Here are instructions on how to invite people to a project.

Once this done, the supervisor can ensure the monitoring of the solar farm, collaborate with all participants (pilot, technicians, and so on).

Supervisor​

Here is what can be done by the supervisor in charge of monitoring the farm health after reaching the project.

  1. In the project, layer groups are created - If the farm is small enough, a single layer group can be used. In the case the farm can be decomposed into independent sites, it's recommended to create one layer group per site. Let's remember that only one orthomosaic per layer group can be displayed at a time in the project. In consequence, each single GeoTIFF orthomosaic file must cover entirely the site in question. As an example, if solar panels are distributed between roofs of two separated buildings, so two layer groups should be created: one for each building. Instruction to create layer groups are here.
  2. In the project, marker states must be created - Either using a template or manually, a set of marker states must be created. Typically: "TO CHECK", "CHECKED -> REPLACED", "CHECKED -> FIXED", "CHECKED -> CLEANED" or "CHECKED -> NOTHING". Here are instructions to create marker states.

Here is what can be done on a regular basis.

  1. A drone pilot is invited to the project - If the drone pilot has already a GeoWork account, he is invited into the GeoWork project. Else, a new account is created for him. Here are instruction about inviting people to a project.
  2. The pilot is asked to upload orthomosaics - The pilot makes flights with a thermal camera and publishes resulting orthomosaic(s) in the project (one per site, in dedicated layer groups).
  3. Markers are created - The orthomosaic can then be browsed from within the project and POIs like hot spot can be marked with markers. Here are instruction on how to create markers.
  4. A team of competent people is invited to the project - Once again, participant are added to the project. Here, typically, technicians able to solve solar panel malfunctions. As for the pilot, they can be either simply invited or their accounts can be created at the same time.
  5. The advancement of operations are monitored - In real time, the supervisor can control the advancement of the situation and give instructions to participants
  6. When everything is done, the access to the project can be removed - External people can be removed from the project at the end of the mission. See here for instructions.

Another way to monitor the health of the farm is to visualize the evolution of orthomosaics with time. This can be done through the timeline (more about the timeline here). For example, after all operations are done by workers, a new orthomosaic can be generated and it's possible to switch from one to the other on the map view to control that changes were made correctly.

Pilot​

From the pilot side, after getting access to the project, one can:

  1. Fly the drone with thermal camera - Fly the drone with a mission planning software and take overlapping thermal photos.
  2. Generate orthomosaics - For example, using WebODM.
  3. Upload orthomosaics to the project - Using these instructions.

Other workers​

For other workers, the process can be as following:

  1. Be assigned to a marker - The user sees he is assigned to a marker with the state "TO CHECK". Looking at the marker's toolbox, he can see a comment from the supervisor explaining what needs to be done.
  2. Reach the marker - With the help of the map were he can see its own location or by the use of the compass, the participant reaches the marker. The precise position of the solar panel to treat can be found easily thanks to the orthomosaic displayed over the basemap, offering visual reference to the worker.
  3. Do the duty - Make tasks he was asked for.
  4. Take photos - The worker can take photos to document changes (like "before" and "after"). Here is how to add a photo to a marker.
  5. Change the state of the marker - The marker state is changed (eg. from "TO CHECK" to "CHECKED"). Here is how to change the state of a marker.