5 Drone Survey Applications That Effectively Reduce Solar Power Plant Management Costs

Managing solar power plants requires a great deal of on-site information, including the size of the site, the large number of installed assets, topographical conditions, vegetation growth, and post-disaster inspections. Relying solely on human visual patrols and inspections can lead to long travel times and missed checks, and judgments tend to vary depending on the inspector’s experience. Drone surveying, which records the condition of a solar power plant from the air and organizes the data into drawings, photographs, and point clouds, is useful in this context. Drone surveying is not merely about photographing the site; it can be used as a practical tool to visualize management targets, narrow down work areas, and align understanding among stakeholders.

Table of Contents

• Reasons why management costs for solar power plants tend to increase

• Use Case 1 Streamline situational awareness to reduce on-site patrols

• Use case 2: Define the area for grass cutting and tree felling

• Application 3: Detect drainage issues and ground deformation early

• Use Case 4 Make it easier to update equipment placement and management ledger

• Use Case 5: Expedite post-disaster verification and reporting

• Operational strategies for using drone surveying to reduce management costs

• Summary

Reasons Why the Management Costs of Solar Power Plants Tend to Increase

The management costs of a solar power plant arise not only from inspections of the equipment itself but also from a wide range of tasks that include site management, weed control, drainage checks, inspections of fences and access roads, and checks along the boundaries with adjacent properties. Because the power generation equipment is installed outdoors for long periods, the condition at the completion of construction is not simply maintained. The state of the site gradually changes due to various factors such as rain and wind, snowfall, intense sunlight, flows of soil and sediment, plant growth, animal intrusion, and human-caused damage.

In large-area solar power plants, it takes time just to walk from one end of the site to the other. On sloped terrain or embankments, there are places that are difficult to approach and spots with unstable footing. There are limits to what can be inspected on foot, and to prevent oversights it may be necessary to have multiple people patrol or recheck. Although each of these tasks may seem like a small burden on its own, when monthly inspections, seasonal checks, post-typhoon inspections, and checks before and after mowing accumulate, they become a significant annual management burden.

Additionally, sharing what was confirmed on site with the office creates extra work. Even if you take photos, it can be difficult to tell which location they show. Reports consisting of text only make it hard for stakeholders who are not familiar with the site to understand the exact situation. When conveying the scope of work to repair contractors or grass-cutting contractors, if the boundaries or target areas remain unclear, estimates, planning, and on-site meetings take unnecessary time.

To reduce the management costs of a solar power plant, simply cutting the number of inspections is not sufficient. While maintaining necessary checks, it is important to reduce the time spent on travel, searching, explaining, recording, and re-inspection. Drone surveying is one way to improve these aspects. By recording an overview of the entire site and organizing it together with location information, it becomes easier to determine where problems exist and which areas should be prioritized for inspection.

Drone surveying for solar power plants does not replace detailed performance diagnostics of the generation equipment itself. What can be confirmed also varies depending on imaging conditions, permissible flight areas, the accuracy of deliverables, and the surrounding environment. However, it can be effective for grasping the locations, extent, and changes of the assets under management. By capturing the overall picture before on-site inspection and concentrating personnel on the necessary locations, it becomes easier to reduce unnecessary walking and time spent searching around. As a result, this contributes to improved efficiency of overall management operations and cost containment.

Use Case 1: Streamline situational awareness and reduce patrol operations

In managing a solar power plant, the fundamental first step is to accurately understand the current condition of the entire site. There are many elements to check, such as the arrangement of panel rows, the condition of access paths, the position of fences, the state of slopes, the flow of drainage channels, surrounding trees, and points of contact with adjacent land. If all of these are inspected on foot every time, it not only takes a lot of time but also makes it more likely that inspections will be missed due to staff fatigue.

By utilizing drone surveying, you can efficiently record the entire site from above. Even areas that are difficult to see from the ground become easier to check integrally from the air in terms of layout and changes. For example, it becomes easier to confirm from overhead images and survey data whether the pathways between panel rows have been narrowed by weeds, whether there are fallen trees or signs of intrusion near the perimeter fence, or whether sediment has accumulated in places where rainwater tends to collect.

To make understanding current conditions more efficient, it is important not to stop at a one-off imaging session. By regularly recording under similar conditions, it becomes easier to compare differences with the previous survey. At solar power plants, grass growth and water flow patterns change with the seasons. From spring to summer, weed proliferation tends to accelerate, and after typhoons or heavy rains there can be movement of sediment and changes to slopes. Regular drone surveys make it easier to detect these changes at an early stage.

Completely eliminating on-site patrols is not realistic. Detailed equipment inspections and safety checks still require people to approach and visually inspect on site. However, if drone surveying can narrow down locations that are likely to have abnormalities in advance, on-site patrol routes can be optimized. Rather than aimlessly walking across a large site, concentrating on the locations that need checking makes it easier to shorten the time required for the work.

Also, if the management company, power plant operators, construction companies, and maintenance personnel can all view the same current-condition data, meeting efficiency will improve. Positional relationships that are difficult to explain with only site photos become easier to share if there are aerial records. Stakeholders who cannot visit the site can more easily grasp the overall picture, reducing the need for back-and-forth communication for decision-making.

When reducing management costs for solar power plants, it's important not to focus solely on the number of site visits but on how efficiently each visit can verify conditions. By using drone surveying to organize the current site conditions in advance, on-site work can more easily concentrate on verification, decision-making, and remedial actions. This approach is particularly effective for management structures with fewer personnel.

Application 2: Define the Area for Mowing and Tree Felling

One of the tasks that can become a major burden in managing a solar power plant is mowing and managing surrounding trees. If weeds grow, they can cause shading of the panels, reduced accessibility of walkways, interference with inspection work, provide habitat for pests and animals, and worsen visibility around fences. Mowing is a necessary maintenance task, but if the entire area is treated the same way every time, unnecessary work tends to increase.

By using drone surveying, you can inspect grass growth from above and more easily clarify the scope of work. Grass growth that can only be partially seen from the ground becomes clear in terms of its distribution across the entire site when viewed from a bird's-eye perspective. You can identify locations where grass tends to grow—around panel rows, along fences, near drainage channels, on slopes, and on unpaved maintenance paths—and prioritize and plan the work accordingly.

To reduce grass-cutting management costs, it is important to carry out the necessary work only where it is needed. Rather than working uniformly across the entire area, prioritize locations that are likely to affect power generation or inspection access routes, areas that may encroach on neighboring properties, and places that impact fences or drainage facilities. Using images and positional information obtained from drone surveys makes it easier to show work areas on drawings and makes explanations to contractors more specific.

It can also help in making decisions about tree felling and pruning. If there are trees around a solar power plant, the way shadows fall changes with the season and time of day. Viewing only part of the site on the ground can make it difficult to determine which trees are causing the impact. Using aerial records makes it easier to confirm the positional relationship between rows of panels and trees, allowing you to consider targeted measures limited to the necessary area while avoiding unnecessary felling. However, to accurately assess the impact of shadows, it is necessary to take into account the season, time of day, solar altitude, terrain, tree height, and so on.

Drone surveying is also effective for documenting before-and-after mowing. By recording the vegetation conditions before work and checking the finished state afterward, it becomes easier to prevent misunderstandings about the scope of work. For solar power plants located in remote areas, it can be difficult for the client to visit the site every time. Having records from before and after the work makes it easier to verify the work while reducing the number of on-site inspections.

Moreover, by accumulating past records, it becomes easier to identify the places and times when grass tends to grow. If the same locations have grass problems at the same time every year, you can designate them in advance as priority management areas. Rather than deciding grass-cutting frequency and coverage based solely on experience, reviewing them based on records can reduce both excessive work and insufficient work.

Drone surveying of solar power plants is not a technology that performs grass cutting itself. However, it provides the information needed to determine where, when, and to what extent grass cutting should be carried out. When the scope of work is clarified, estimate accuracy improves and on-site instructions become shorter. As a result, it becomes easier for both managers and contractors to operate with less waste.

Use Case 3: Early detection of drainage issues and ground deformation

In managing solar power plants, it is important to continuously monitor not only the panels and racking but also the condition of the ground and drainage. On developed, sloped, or mountainous sites, locations near valley terrain, or sites involving embankments and cut slopes, rainwater runoff can cause soil movement, scouring and erosion, muddy conditions, blockage of drainage channels, and slope deformation. If these changes are left unaddressed, inspection paths can become difficult to use, areas around equipment foundations can be affected, and the scope of repairs may expand.

Drainage and ground issues can be difficult to detect in the early stages. When walking a site, you may notice anomalies near your feet, but it can be hard to determine where water is collecting across the entire property and which direction it is flowing. Using drone surveying allows you to get an overhead view of terrain undulations and water pathways, making it easier to identify areas where rainwater tends to concentrate.

After heavy rainfall, it is necessary to focus inspections on areas such as around drainage channels, the toes of slopes, service accessways, beneath panel rows, and near the perimeter fence. Recording from above with a drone makes it easier to identify sediment accumulation, differences in ground-surface coloration, puddles, and changes in flow paths. If point clouds and terrain data can be utilized, they can also serve as material for confirming elevation differences and changes to the ground surface. However, dense vegetation and shooting conditions can make it difficult to discern the ground surface, so it is important to combine drone surveys with close-up on-site checks of critical locations.

From the standpoint of reducing management costs, early detection is highly significant. If drainage blockages or minor scour are discovered at an early stage, they can potentially be dealt with by cleaning or partial repairs. Conversely, if discovery is delayed, larger works such as sediment removal, slope repair, or renovation of drainage facilities may become necessary. Drone surveying expands the range of observation to find these problems earlier.

Records are also useful when explaining the need for repairs. Simply saying “drainage is poor” on site may not convey the severity to stakeholders. If there are aerial records or comparisons of changes, it becomes easier to show which areas are experiencing water pooling and which locations have soil movement. This makes it easier to explain and advance repair decisions and secure budget allocation.

When checking ground conditions and drainage, comparison with past data is also important. By comparing whether a new flow path has formed in places that previously had no problems, whether part of a slope has changed, or whether sediment around drainage channels has increased, you can detect signs of change. Keeping each inspection result in the same format makes it easier for decisions to be passed on even if the person in charge changes.

In managing solar power plants, not only failures of generation equipment but also changes in site conditions can become a significant burden later. By using drone surveying to regularly check drainage and ground deformation, it becomes easier to respond before problems grow large. This helps not only to suppress repair costs but also to maintain safe inspection routes.

Use Case 4: Make it easier to update equipment layout and the management ledger

In managing a solar power plant, it is essential to have an accurate understanding of the on-site equipment layout. There are many items to manage, such as panel rows, mounting structures, junction boxes, collection equipment, fences, gates, maintenance access routes, drainage facilities, signage, and monitoring equipment. Even if construction drawings exist, the actual layout, equipment added later, or changes made during repairs may not be reflected. When the actual site conditions diverge from management documents, issuing inspection or repair instructions takes more time.

By using drone surveying, you can record the layout of the entire site from above, making it easier to use as material for management ledgers and drawing updates. If you have images or terrain data that show the positional relationships of equipment, you can share information closer to the current condition than by relying solely on paper documents or old drawings. At solar power plants, management often uses row numbers and area divisions, so combining aerial records with ledgers makes it easier to identify the target locations.

If the management ledger is not well organized, even if an anomaly is discovered on-site, it will take time later to determine which piece of equipment the problem relates to. If photos are saved without clear information about where they were taken, they become difficult to utilize when reviewed later. By linking positions and images through drone surveying, inspection records become more searchable and past response records are easier to review.

It is also effective for requests for repair or replacement work. For example, if a section of the perimeter fence is damaged, explaining the location with words alone creates the hassle of searching on site. If you indicate the position on aerial records, workers can more easily understand which gate to enter, which path to take, and the area they should work on. Even when an on-site presence is required, sharing the work location in advance can shorten meeting time.

Also, when you manage multiple solar power plants, organizing management ledgers becomes even more important. If each site uses different document formats or inconsistent methods for storing photos, it becomes difficult to transfer information when personnel change. By incorporating drone survey records into a common management rule set, you can reduce differences between sites and more easily standardize management quality.

Keeping records of equipment layout is also useful for future renovation plans. When considering installing additional equipment, revising pathways, improving drainage, changing mowing routes, repairing fences, and the like, knowing the current layout increases the accuracy of the plans. Because it reduces the number of times you need to visit the site to recheck, it also makes it easier to keep planning-stage costs down.

When reducing management costs for solar power plants, it’s important not only to optimize on-site work but also to streamline administrative tasks. Updating management ledgers, preparing reports, directing contractors, internal approvals, and explaining things to owners—the time spent organizing records can be a significant burden. By using drone surveys to record on-site information in an easy-to-understand way, these administrative tasks become easier to carry out, helping to reduce the overall management workload.

Use Case 5: Quickly carry out post-disaster verification and reporting

Because solar power plants are outdoor facilities, they can be affected by typhoons, heavy rain, strong winds, snowfall, lightning strikes, earthquakes, and similar events. After a disaster, it is necessary to check for panel damage, misalignment of mounting structures, flying debris, fence damage, slope collapse, clogged drainage channels, inflow of sediment, severed access routes, and other issues. If the presence or absence of damage cannot be identified quickly, recovery decisions and reporting to stakeholders will be delayed, which may lead to power generation outages or additional damage.

Post-disaster on-site inspections require careful attention to safety. When there are fallen trees, muddy ground, collapsed slopes, broken structural members, or flooded areas, there may be locations that are too dangerous for people to approach immediately. By using drone surveying, you can first check the whole area from above and obtain the information needed to determine where people should enter and where they should not approach. This allows you to speed up the initial inspection while enhancing the safety of on-site work.

After a disaster, communicating with stakeholders is also important. There are multiple parties who need to know the situation: power generation companies, management companies, maintenance personnel, repair contractors, landowners, and neighboring stakeholders. If on-site staff try to explain things only by phone or in writing, it is difficult to convey the extent of damage and its priorities. Aerial imagery or survey data makes it easier to indicate the locations of damage, its spread, and the relationship to surrounding equipment.

From the perspective of reducing management costs, shortening the initial response time after a disaster is important. If multiple people walk around a large site without knowing where the damage is, inspections take a long time. If a drone survey can capture the overall picture first, it becomes possible to narrow down the locations that need repair and more easily arrange the necessary materials and personnel. As a result, the steps to recovery are accelerated, and unnecessary deployments and rechecks can be reduced.

It is also important to make sure records from before a disaster can be compared with those taken afterward. If you do not know the normal, pre-event condition, it is difficult to determine whether observed changes were caused by the disaster or were present beforehand. By keeping regular records of drone surveys, it becomes easier to verify differences after a disaster. This also helps when deciding the extent of necessary repairs.

It is also effective for preparing post-disaster reports. Organizing photos by damage location, explaining positional relationships, and summarizing response plans takes time. If you organize damaged areas based on records obtained from drone surveys, preparing the report becomes much easier. The key is not to separate on-site inspections from report preparation, but to keep records in a format that is easy to use from the start.

Disaster response requires both speed and accuracy. If inspections are rushed and many things are overlooked, rechecks become necessary; if inspections are overly cautious, recovery decisions are delayed. Drone surveys of solar power plants are a means to quickly inspect the entire site and concentrate personnel on critical locations. If operational procedures are decided during normal times, it becomes easier to use them without hesitation during disasters.

Operational Concepts for Linking Drone Surveying to Management Cost Reductions

Introducing drone surveying alone does not automatically reduce management costs. What is important is to make clear which tasks the acquired data will be used for, which decisions will be accelerated, and which operations will be reduced. If imaging or surveying is carried out with vague objectives, the data may remain unused and is unlikely to lead to improvements in management work.

First, it is necessary to clarify the management issues for each solar power plant. Whether mowing costs are high, patrols take a long time, drainage problems are frequent, post-disaster inspections are time-consuming, or management records are outdated will change what should be prioritized in drone surveying. If the aim is cost reduction, it is important to link on-site problems with the survey scope.

Next, decide the recording frequency. Some sites require detailed, monthly records, while others are better served by seasonal checks or inspections focused on post-disaster assessments. In areas where grass grows quickly, it is worthwhile to concentrate records from spring through summer. In locations prone to heavy rainfall, checks after the rainy season and typhoons are important. Setting the frequency according to site conditions allows you to obtain the necessary information while avoiding excessive surveying.

How data is presented is also important. If it is in a format that only the person in charge understands, it becomes difficult to use when explaining to stakeholders. It is desirable to organize it in association with area names, equipment numbers, aisle names, perimeter locations, and so on, so that even people unfamiliar with the site can understand the location and situation. Even if images and point clouds are captured, operational efficiency will not improve if they cannot be found later. In practice, it is important to manage them consistently by keeping track of storage locations, file names, capture dates, target areas, and response histories.

It is also necessary to incorporate this into both field and office workflows. Decide in advance who will verify anomalies found by drone surveys, who will make decisions, and who will arrange repairs so that the data does not become a dead end. For example, for confirming mowing areas, establish a flow in which, after the survey, the manager in charge specifies the work area, shares it with the contractor, and then rechecks after the work is completed. For drainage anomalies, identify candidate locations from the survey, perform close-up on-site verification, and determine repair policies as needed.

The accuracy of drone surveys and the types of deliverables should be chosen to match the purpose. The data required differ between simply getting an overall picture and checking terrain changes or positional relationships in detail. Requesting overly advanced deliverables every time can actually increase the workload. On the other hand, when the results are used for important decisions, sufficient accuracy and reliable record-keeping are necessary. To reduce management costs, it is important to select a survey scope that is neither excessive nor insufficient for the intended use.

Safety management is also indispensable. A solar power plant is a facility that includes electrical equipment, and there may be roads, houses, farmland, forests, power lines, and the like nearby. It is necessary to appropriately carry out flight planning, consideration for the surroundings, weather assessment, selection of takeoff and landing sites, confirmation that no third parties are entering the area, and checks of relevant laws and flight rules. Operations that neglect safety will not reduce management costs but will instead become the cause of new troubles.

For reducing management costs, it's effective to think of drone surveying not as a substitute for field work but as an information platform to accelerate decision-making. Its primary roles are narrowing down the locations that need human inspection, clarifying what to communicate to contractors, simplifying report preparation, and making it easier to compare with past data. Rather than automating everything on site, using it to support human judgment makes it easier to integrate into routine operations.

Summary

When reducing management costs at solar power plants, it's important not simply to cut back on inspections and maintenance, but to carry out necessary checks efficiently and to reduce unnecessary travel, time spent searching, the effort required to explain things, and repeat confirmations. Drone surveying helps streamline management work by providing an aerial overview of the entire site and recording it, making locations and areas easy to organize.

For current-condition assessments, you can efficiently inspect large sites and narrow down the areas that need to be patrolled. For grass cutting and tree removal, you can clarify the work area to reduce excessive work and miscommunication of instructions. For checking drainage and ground deformation, you can detect small abnormalities early and take measures before they develop into major repairs. For equipment placement and updates to management ledgers, you can reduce discrepancies between actual site conditions and documentation, making inspection and repair instructions smoother. For post-disaster checks, you can safely grasp the overall picture and more quickly proceed with recovery decisions and reporting.

However, drone surveying does not end with taking photos. Only by deciding what issues it will be used for, how frequently to record data, who will verify it, and how to reflect it in ledgers and reports can it lead to reduced management costs. It is important to organize the necessary deliverables and operational rules according to the scale, terrain, and management structure of the solar power plant.

If you integrate drone surveying for solar power plants into practical operations, it is effective to treat on-site recording, surveying, sharing, and management as a single continuous workflow. By using it with a view to daily management, mowing plans, post-disaster inspections, and ledger updates, you can reduce the burden on on-site personnel and accelerate decision-making. When considering a more efficient management system, it is important to organize how to utilize drone surveying in ways that match your company’s management challenges, site conditions, desired deliverables, and operational framework.