Pharos Data · Renewable energy
Guard the plant by night. Inspect it by day.
A renewable site is kilometres of cable, fence and equipment far from anyone, and every lost hour of generation costs money. One Pharos station protects the site at night and inspects it by day: panels, batteries, blades and the substation that ties it all to the grid.
The problem
Remote, valuable and hard to watch.
Solar farms and wind sites are built where the land is open and the people are few. Cable and copper theft can take a string or a whole block offline overnight, and faults hide across thousands of panels until the numbers show them. Guards and yearly inspections cannot cover that much ground.
- Cable and copper theft that takes generation offline
- Thousands of panels and too few people to check them
- Batteries and inverters that run hot before they fail
- Yearly inspections that miss months of lost output
What we offer
What the station does for you.
The aircraft patrols fences, cable routes and combiner boxes on thermal, and is over any alarm in under two minutes with a licensed pilot flying it.
Every panel fault found on thermal and pinned to its module and string, flown every month and after storms.
Battery containers, inverters, transformers and substation equipment checked on thermal for parts running hotter than their neighbours.
Turbine blades, towers and structures checked with the telephoto camera from a safe distance, with every finding photographed and positioned.
Across the plant
Every part of the site, from one station.
Security and inspection planned together, so nothing is flown twice.
Monthly thermal fault mapping, module by module and string by string.
Containers and inverters checked on thermal for parts running hotter than their neighbours.
Blades and towers checked visually with the telephoto camera from a safe distance.
The substation watched at night and checked by day, cable routes patrolled against theft.
How we do it
How it works on your ground.
- 01One station on the siteThe same station does the security at night and the inspections by day, on one bill.
- 02Your alarms launch itFence and intrusion alarms send the aircraft up on their own, so a theft is seen while it happens.
- 03Inspections on a scheduleMonthly thermal passes, and extra flights after storms or faults, on the same lines every time.
- 04Reports your O&M team can useFindings ranked by urgency, with a photo and position for each, ready for the maintenance team.
Built by Pharos
Our own software, working for you.
The aircraft and station are DJI hardware. What makes them one service is software we wrote ourselves. Here is what it does for you on this kind of site.
Our own link between the station and the alarm panels, beams and electric fences you already run. When a zone trips, the aircraft goes up on its own. Nobody has to pick up a phone first.
Our media pipeline checks, sorts and processes every capture as it comes off the aircraft. Each report is built with the same method as the last one, so month on month the numbers compare.
Our evidence chain seals every clip and every flight log the moment it is captured, with the pilot, station, time and position attached. If anything were changed afterwards, it would show.
What you get
What lands with you.
- Night patrols and alarm response on the whole site
- A monthly thermal fault register for the panels
- Battery, inverter and substation thermal checks
- Sealed evidence for SAPS and your insurer after any theft
Questions
Renewable energy, answered.
Can one station cover a whole solar farm?
It covers the area within the aircraft's reach. The free site assessment maps exactly what one station covers and whether a large plant needs more.
Do you inspect wind turbines?
We check blades, towers and structures visually with the telephoto camera from a safe distance. Detailed blade surveys that need contact or rope access stay with your specialist.
Does the security and the inspection cost extra each?
No. One station does both, on one bill.
Can you help during construction?
Yes. The same station can track construction progress on a new build and then protect and inspect the finished plant.
Book a site assessment
See what a station covers on your ground.
Outline your property on a satellite map and answer four questions, or leave your details. It costs you nothing and you are not committing to anything.