December 2018

Gensol, an Ahmedabad-based solar consulting and project management company, is rolling out a digital solution for monitoring solar plants using drones to take on emerging competition.

With regulations for drones having come into effect from December 1, 2018, registration has started for its initial fleet of about 70 drones on the government’s Digital Sky portal and is expected to be completed in January 2019, post which the drones will become operational. These drones will monitor the solar plants – both operational and under construction – and shoot images that will be processed by a custom-made image recognition software in real time.

Gensol’s aim is not just project monitoring and thermography but also catering to the security aspect. With its automated drone service and superior image recognition capabilities, the company plans to reduce the security risk by detecting foreign intrusions. These drones will be powered by fuel cells, which will enable them to be operational for up to four hours. In comparison, lithium-ion battery-powered drones work for only 30-40 minutes.

Gensol has invested over $1 million in the software and plans to put in more money into the drone fleet and supporting infrastructure.

Source