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Review
Review of unmanned ground vehicles for PV plant inspection
Solar energy, Vol.291, 113404
2025
Appears in Open Access via Read & Publish Agreements
Abstract
The growth of utility-scale solar power plants, which can now have more than a million PV modules, has created the need for automated monitoring and inspection technologies. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs, or “drones”) have become widely used, especially for thermal infrared imaging, due to their falling cost, increasing technical capability, and ability to survey large areas quickly. However drones have certain limitations: they do not see the underside of PV arrays or balance-of-system equipment, it is difficult to hold a steady position for long- or repeated-exposure imaging, and operating permits can be onerous. In such cases unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs, or “robots”) can be advantageous for PV plant inspection. This paper reviews robot movement mechanisms (wheels, tracks and legs), types of PV faults for which they are suited, and their current status of use in commercial solar farms. Further, it examines typical obstacles to robot navigation in Australian solar farms. Key conclusions are that robots are likely to complement rather than replace drones for PV inspection, and are especially valuable for reducing fire risk by detecting hot-spots in electrical components.
Details
- Title
- Review of unmanned ground vehicles for PV plant inspection
- Authors/Creators
- Benjamin FiggisSheikh Izzal Azid - Murdoch University, School of Engineering and EnergyDavid Parlevliet - Murdoch University, Centre for Water, Energy and Waste
- Publication Details
- Solar energy, Vol.291, 113404
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd.; OXFORD
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) project Daytime Inspection Solutions for Advanced Operation & Solar Farm Maintenance under Ultra Low-Cost Solar (ULCS) PV Research and Development Round (ARENA Project): 2022/TRAC013
This study was funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) project Daytime Inspection Solutions for Advanced Operation & Solar Farm Maintenance under its Ultra Low-Cost Solar (ULCS) PV Research and Development Round (ARENA Project 2022/TRAC013) . We thank Luke Magon of ScanPro Systems Pty Ltd and Andrew Easton of Sunrise Energy Group Pty Ltd for their input to this report; and Oliver Kunz, Juergen Weber and Thorsten Trupke of the University of New South Wales for their advice on the manuscript.
- Identifiers
- 991005752729407891
- Copyright
- © 2025 The Authors.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Review
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- Energy & Fuels
- ESI research areas
- Engineering