Monitoring marine biodiversity in offshore wind farms will soon be carried out using a solar-powered drone developed by French company Hytech Imaging.
The Breton firm has completed the first flight of its SolarStormm system, which integrates its spectral imaging technology with the SolarXOne drone built by French deeptech company XSun.
SolarStormm is a fully carbon-free solution designed to capture and analyse aerial images for monitoring birds and marine mammals around wind farms.
The project is part of the IBreizh programme, launched by Ailes Marines, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, in partnership with the Pole Mer Bretagne Atlantique. It was one of three initiatives selected through a 2023 Call for Expressions of Interest to support biodiversity monitoring and drift detection in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc.
Ailes Marines awarded Hytech Imaging a €100,000 grant to support development, covering half of eligible costs.
Hytech Imaging’s solution combines three core technologies: the SolarXOne solar drone, the Stormm-Survey spectral imaging system co-developed with the PELAGIS observatory, and the Stormm-Analysis module for expert image processing.
Following two years of development, the company successfully miniaturised its imaging technology by a factor of ten to allow integration on the drone.
The carbon-free system will replace traditional aircraft-based aerial studies, substantially reducing the environmental footprint of offshore monitoring.
Three test flight campaigns are planned at the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in the coming months, with full operational deployment expected by mid-2026.
“The SolarStormm project illustrates the mission of the IBreizh programme, which supports local maritime innovation,” said Marie Thabard, director of offshore wind development at Iberdrola France. “This entirely carbon-free Breton technology will help monitor birds and marine mammals while reducing the ecological impact of environmental surveys.”
Hytech Imaging president and co-founder Marc Lennon said: “SolarStormm meets the monitoring needs of offshore wind farms and improves scientific knowledge of marine megafauna and avifauna. Our solution can be deployed at wind farms across France and globally.”
Lennon added that testing will also take place at the Saint-Nazaire and Bretagne Sud offshore wind farms.
Picture: Marie Thabard, Director of Offshore Wind Development at Iberdrola France; Marc Lennon, President and co-founder of Hytech Imaging; and Tomas Lamé, Flight Control Engineer at XSun.