Innogy has completed the first drone-based blade inspection at its 295MW Nordsee Ost wind farm in the German North Sea.
The drone was deployed to review the facility’s 60-metre blades, the operator said.
It has tested a so-called quadrocopter as an alternative to hands-on rope access.
“A hands-on visual survey by a blade expert is the best option, but rope-based inspection is also very sophisticated and costly,” Innogy executive Wolf Kind said.
“With the drone we hope to reduce the downtime of our wind farm.”
Innogy is now set to review the footage and assess whether the pictures are good enough.
“We will then decide whether we will use the drone for the inspection of other installations”, Kind added.
Image: Innogy
