Wind Turbine / Windmill / Wind Farm Inspections

Streamlined Wind Turbine Inspections with Drones
Harnessing the Power of Drones for Efficiency and Accuracy
Traditionally, wind turbines are inspected by Rope Access technicians and ground-based cameras. Climbing towers are dangerous. In 2016 the UK reported 163 accidents and 5 fatalities in the wind turbine industry. Even though Rope Access technicians are trained and follow strict safety standards, accidents happen.
Pilots in aviation follow the “IMSAFE” rule to avoid flying when not physically and mentally fit to affectively do the job. IMSAFE translates into illness, medication, stress, alcohol /drugs, fatigue and emotions.
Rope Access crew and pilots at times are probably affected by this while inspecting a turbine, the difference is incidents and accidents are a lot more severe with Rope Access Crew compared to the drone pilots.
Using machines radically reduces the chances of injury or death caused by human error. Bottom line; – safety is massively increased from making decisions hanging from a rope compared to having feet safely on the ground.
Streamlining Wind Turbine Inspections with Drones
Wind Turbines operate in harsh weather. Wear and tear on the blades can be caused by extreme temperatures, gritty sand, high winds, ultraviolet radiation, freezing rain, sleet and saltwater.
Depending on the terrain, Drone/UAV teams can inspect between 8 to 10 turbines per day. On average approximately 40 mins. per turbine if all goes well. This drastically reduces costs and inspection times compared to rope access crew.

After the captured data is reviewed by the pilots it is uploaded to online wind turbine inspection software. The data is stored properly, organised, secured, is easy to use and this enables asset managers, developers, maintenance technicians and insurance adjusters to analyse defects and damage. They are also able to reference the data to track changes over time or compare data after repairs have been conducted.
With drone/uav wind turbine inspections there are manual and automated inspections.
With manual inspections the missions are flown by skilled pilots. The drones are flown up and down the blades capturing the images while keeping safe separation between the drone and the blade.
‘With automatic drone inspections the missions are pre-loaded for flights, flown by software and guided by lidar sensors. Automatic inspections are a lot more expensive because of the equipment and technology required to do the job.
Types of issues that can be detected:
- Leading edge erosion
- Lightning strike damage
- Small cracks or splits along the bond joints
- Foreign object damage
- Very small cracks and light wear (that can’t be seen by scope)
- UV radiation damage
- Fiber waves
- Pitch errors
- Gel coat degradation
- Impact damage
- Potentially catastrophic delamination
- Debonding
- Longitudinal/travers cracking
- Dry Fibers
- Charring
- Chordwise cracking
- Pitting
- Spider Cracks
- Flagging
- Holes
- Crazing
- Crush
- Top coat flaking
- Repair failures
Drones can also be used across the whole lifecycle of the wind turbine for example:
- Property scouting and selecting the appropriate site by mapping the proposed areas
- Create digital elevation and surface models for site planning and management
- Periodically survey sites for progress monitoring of the installations
- Inspect turbines to ensure components are ready for energy production
- Building maps for decommissioning planning
The Mission – Summary of How it Works
- Client brief and mission requirements
Ensure all details from client is received and objectives are determined. - Flight planning and compliance
Ensure all permissions are obtained from relevant authorities and site contact details are noted for mission. - Risk Assessments
Ensure that the risk assessments are studied and reviewed by crew before flight. Check if any further mitigation is required. - Onsite Assessments
Pilot performs onsite assessment and pre-flights before each flight. Check if any further mitigation is required to ensure safe operations. - Data Management
Drone operator uploads verified and checked data/images after each flight. - Software reports and Analyse of data
Operations managers, maintainers or insurance adjusters review reports on blade damage severity and issues. Data is accessible from anywhere. Annotations and comments added to images. Data base is kept from prior inspections to compare. - Action plan
After maintenance is performed, drone operator is re-deployed to validate work performed and record data for historical reference. - Hazard Assessment
Continuous hazard risk reporting to ensure mission improvement.
Drones that are Commonly used in the Wind Turbine Industry are:
- DJI M300 RTK – Outfitted to excel in any weather; – a flight duration of up to 55 minutes and the capacity to contain 3 distinct payloads.
- DJI M30 RTK –
- DJI Mavic 3 E –
Drones/UAV inspections equip the turbine operators to gain more efficiency out for their resources and installations plus creating a safer environment for the staff.