A new European project called Durable aims to boost the use of drones and robots for operations and maintenance in the wind and solar energy industry.
The €3.9m Durable – Drones and maintenance robots for the promotion of renewable energies in the Atlantic area – initiative is led by the Ecole Superieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancees in France and is co-financed by the Interreg Atlantic Area Program through the European Regional Development Fund.
It aims to validate and demonstrate robotic aerospace technologies that will automate inspection and repair tasks across France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK.
Durable plans to map the available technologies and the O&M needs at solar and wind farms and to adapt them afterward.
The ultimate aim is to come up with a model that can be tested at a pilot project.
Other partners include Spain’s Centro Avanzado de Tecnologias Aeroespaciales, Universidad de Sevilla, Lortek S Coop, Cluster Vasco de Energia, Corporacion Tecnologica de Andalucia, Alerion Technologies and Abengoa Energia, as well as Dublin City University in Ireland, the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal, the University of the West of England and Cluster Drones AETOS in France.