Global solar tracker company Gamechange Solar and Raptor Maps have introduced an integrated solution that uses the latter company’s Sentry autonomous robotic inspection technology to pinpoint the causes of issues identified in the former’s GeniusVision tracker monitoring software.
In addition to providing rapid insights into emergent issues, the two companies’ solutions will feed each other data, automatically refining algorithms within the GeniusVision software to better fit site conditions.
The companies say the solution gives asset owners “a continuous feedback loop between tracker performance and on-site inspection data,” allowing them to eschew manual preventative maintenance inspections and quickly gather inspection data to provide insights that enable workers to more efficiently take corrective action.
“What we’ve built with GameChange Energy is an elegant solution to a major problem,” said Raptor Maps CEO Nikhil Vadhavkar in a statement. “The tracker signals a need, Sentry goes and gets the data, and that data drives the actions necessary to mitigate losses. This closed-loop automation drastically shortens the time between what’s detected and actions taken, delivering a win for the owner and their O&M”.
In addition to regular scheduled autonomous drone inspections, the system can perform immediate inspections in the wake of severe weather, as well as support the construction process by providing verification of installation quality as the system is being built.
Image: Raptor Maps
“GameChange has always taken a long view on the value we deliver to asset owners,” said GameChange CEO Phillip Vyhanek in a statement. “By working with the solar industry’s most deployed robotic inspection platform to combine Sentry’s capabilities with GeniusVision, we’re giving owners a more complete picture of tracker health and giving our teams the feedback needed to continue improving our products. We’re excited to extend our services, value, and relationships with clients throughout the entire project lifecycle.”
GameChange Solar’s GeniusVision software continuously monitors the performance and health of trackers, storing historical data and providing analytics, trend graphs and diagnostics to asset owners.
The RaptorMaps Sentry platform conducts visual and thermal inspections to identify early indicators of equipment failure, such as overheating back-of-panel connectors or damaged wiring.
The autonomous thermal imaging functions can be especially beneficial for asset owners. According to a recent study by kWh Analytics, 84% of fire events that occur in large-scale PV installations arise from problems with the solar equipment and PV fire risk is one of the leading causes of loss.
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