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IEC 62446-3 Compliant Thermal

Drone Solar Farm Surveys.

Compare quotes from specialist UK drone operators for thermal and visual inspection of utility-scale PV arrays — hotspots, bypass-diode failures, soiling, and panel-level defect mapping delivered straight to your O&M team.

Peter Leslie

“For every verified profile, we record the insurance and CAA credentials supplied at the time of review.”

Peter Leslie · Founder & GVC Drone Pilot

Trusted by site managers & agencies across the UK

Network Rail NHS Siemens NatureScot Amazon Enfield Council Express Group Net Zero Horizon Group ETZ FB Angus Asset Survey

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Walking a 50MWp site with a hand-held IR camera is madness.

Asset managers, O&M contractors, and solar funds still try to string-test every table manually. Drone thermography finds the same faults in a single morning — with production data the walk-out will never match.

Lost Generation Revenue

A single underperforming string can cost a 50MWp site thousands in lost ROC/CfD revenue per month. Drone thermography finds under-producing modules on day one rather than the next O&M cycle.

Hidden Cell & Diode Faults

Hotspots, bypass-diode failures, and PID losses rarely show up on inverter-level monitoring until performance has already degraded. Panel-level thermography catches them before the warranty window closes.

Walk-Out Labour Costs

Hand-held IV-curve tracing across 150,000+ modules on a utility-scale site is weeks of work. A drone covers the same ground in hours and produces a georef'd panel-level defect map the walk-out can never match.

Compliant PV thermography is not a hobby job.

By Peter Leslie, Founder & GVC Drone Pilot

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IEC 62446-3 sets out strict conditions for aerial thermography: minimum irradiance, wind limits, camera resolution, and qualified interpretation. Without those, the defect map is nothing more than a set of pretty pictures.

Every solar survey on this network is flown by drone operators with ITC Level 1/2 thermography, calibrated radiometric cameras, and a CAA Operational Authorisation. They carry £5M+ public liability as standard.

The result is a defect register that warranty teams, insurers, and lenders' technical advisors accept without challenge.

IEC 62446-3 Compliant

ITC & £5M Public Liability

Outputs your O&M team can action.

Our network operators deliver survey-grade outputs ready for warranty claims, lender's technical advisor audits, and routine O&M work packs.

Panel-Level Defect Map

Every defective module is tagged with GPS coordinates, table and row ID, defect classification (hotspot, PID, bypass-diode, soiling), and delta-T measurement.

Radiometric Mosaic

A georeferenced radiometric thermal ortho of the entire array, allowing re-analysis at any time. Perfect for year-on-year performance comparisons and lender's TA submissions.

O&M Work Pack

Prioritised fault list with recommended remediations, cross-referenced to warranty lots and module serials where available. Ready to hand directly to the O&M contractor.

Book your solar survey in 3 steps.

Submit one brief. We aim to review it within one working day, then introduce relevant independent specialists who can assess the project.

01

Describe the Site

Tell us the site capacity, module type, and whether you need pre-commissioning sign-off or annual O&M. Takes under two minutes.

02

Compare Specialists

We review the brief against relevant verified profiles and current availability. If listed supply is limited, we will say so and source availability manually. Any pilot introduced must confirm equipment, permissions, timing and deliverables for the actual job.

03

Inspect & Report

Your drone pilot flies the array under compliant irradiance, and delivers a packaged report with defect map, radiometric mosaic, and O&M work pack.

Solar Survey FAQ

Technical questions on IEC 62446-3, fly-time windows, and deliverables.

Is your survey IEC 62446-3 compliant?
Yes. Drone operators fly under the IEC 62446-3 category 2 / category 3 conditions as agreed on scope: irradiance above 600 W/m², wind under 4 m/s, panel temperature steady, camera NETD under 50 mK, and interpretation by an ITC Level 1 or Level 2 thermographer. Reports cite the exact conditions achieved on the day.
When is the best time to fly a PV thermal survey in the UK?
The best window is late spring through early autumn, between roughly 10:00 and 15:00 on a clear day, when irradiance exceeds 600 W/m² and the array is at stable operating temperature. UK-wide, drone operators target April to September and flex by weather.
Does the site need to be offline for the survey?
No — the survey must be flown with the array exporting to grid so each module is under electrical load and cell-level faults produce a detectable delta-T. Zero production loss during the flight.
Do I get raw imagery as well as the report?
Yes. Every brief includes the panel-level defect map, the radiometric mosaic (R-JPEG files preserved for re-analysis), the O&M work pack, and the full raw visual image set. Files are delivered via secure cloud link within 5–10 working days depending on site size.

Ready to stop guessing where the faults are?

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