Drones to be tested for solar and wind farms

Singapore

DRONES could soon replace human inspectors in solar and wind farms around the world if a tie-up between multinational energy-services provider DNV GL and a local drone technology startup bears fruit.

Norway-based DNV GL on Wednesday unveiled a collaboration with the year-old SwarmX to use autonomous drones to monitor the production and performance of wind turbines and solar panels. Doing this will save companies the time and cost of travel by human inspectors to solar and wind farms, which are often in far-flung sites; it will also cut the time needed to locate defects and lower the risk of danger, said DNV GL.