By Mike Kahn, Chief Marketing Officer AEE Aviation Technology, Inc.  As of the end of 2017, nearly 345,000 wind turbines were operational in the world. What this means is more than 1,035,000 turbine blades are subject to wear, requiring regular inspections and care throughout their lifespan. Advanced drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are…

SkySpecs, an award-winning provider of robotics solutions for the wind energy industry, has successfully completed an automated inspection of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine at Ørsted‘s (formerly DONG Energy) Burbo Bank Extension, in the Irish Sea. Ørsted says the testing and automated inspection of the 8-MW offshore turbine was an important step in gaining confidence…

In this episode of WindTalk podcast, we discuss drones for wind-turbine blade and tower inspections. Our expert guest is Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs, a company that offers drone inspections for wind turbines, combined with intuitive software that allows for high-quality data capture. In fact, SkySpecs offers a 15-minute automated robotic inspection, which we touch…

Ardenna and HUVRdata have partnered to provide fully automated defect detection, reporting, and analytics to the energy sector. This enhanced platform unites Ardenna’s AI-based automated defect detection software with HUVR’s Automation and Enterprise Industrial Asset Management Reporting and Analytic toolset to provide customers with a state-of-the-art industrial asset inspections. The partnership was initially announced in…

On the heels of its groundbreaking success with BNSF Railway in the achievement of truly automated long-range UAS supplemental track inspections, Bihrle Applied Research (Bihrle) announced that it is spinning-off its computer vision and machine learning capabilities in a new venture called Ardenna. Ardenna will offer solutions for the automated detection, classification, and reporting of…

  Sion Power, a developer of lithium battery technology, announced production will begin on their patented Licerion rechargeable lithium metal battery at its Tucson facility in late 2018. The Licerion rechargeable lithium metal technology will offer the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and electric vehicle (EV) markets an unparalleled 500 Wh/kg, 1,000 Wh/L, and 450 cycles…

2017 was the biggest year for commercial drones yet. We saw drones used in almost every industry from archaeology to agriculture.

  Sending wind techs up-tower to inspect blades is a time-consuming and potentially dangerous task. Recent advancements in drone technology or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are slowly turning such labor-intensive maintenance efforts into a safer, more precise, and streamlined process. And wind companies are taking notice. For example, global energy companies such as Enel, E.On,…

SkySpecs, a drone inspection company, announced $8 million in Series B financing. The financing was led by Statkraft Ventures, with UL Ventures and Capital Midwest, with follow-on investments from Venture Investors, Huron River Ventures, and additional existing investors. Founders and Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees, Danny Ellis and Tom Brady, along with the SkySpecs team will use the investment to scale the company’s international operations and…

Ballard Power Systems announced that the company has developed a next-generation fuel cell propulsion system to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Ballard has also received a follow-on contract from Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, for extended durability testing of the 1.3-kW system to power test flights of its ScanEagle UAV platform. Ballard and Insitu…

With on-demand data, your company can transform day-to-workflows, increase collaboration, and be more productive.

For the first time, drones were used to inspect all 264 turbine blades across the 88 offshore locations at Sheringham Shoal wind farm. Sheringham Shoal, operated by Statoil, a key player in the UK’s offshore wind sector, partnered with Martek Aviation to carry out the inspections. Using 200 UAS, the drones took eight minutes each…

This article comes from Northern Maine Community College.  Wind Power Technology students at Northern Maine Community College now have another high-flying tool in their educational tool kit. NMCC Wind Power Technology Instructor Wayne Kilcollins recently became Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Drone certified to fly drones for business and work. Kilcollins’ new certification will allow him to…

The company will be showcasing its third-generation Moverio augmented reality (AR), essentially a wearable video screen.

Measure, a provider of drone services to enterprise customers, has added turnkey wind-farm inspection capabilities to its portfolio of aerial data collection solutions. Wind-farm operators can now outsource preventive maintenance inspections to Measure’s drone pilots and data analysts for fast, accurate, safe, and timely problem identification. The service is designed to help avert critical turbine…

Measure, a U.S. provider of drone services for enterprise customers, announced its first franchise location with the grand opening of Measure Springfield in Illinois. The new office provides local, face-to-face service for businesses in Central Illinois that are interested in using aerial data collection to improve productivity, control costs, and increase workplace safety. Measure Springfield offers…

Sharper Shape and SkySkopes, in cooperation with an investor owned utility, have developed an innovative and unique way to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for power-line construction. The mission used the Sharper A6 UAS to string sock lines for a 675-kV line construction project.     “This use-case highlights how UAS are a safe and effective option for many…

Honeywell has launched its first commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspection service, the Honeywell InView inspection service, to help industrial customers improve critical structure inspections while helping increase employees’ safety from many of the risks associated with these often-dangerous working conditions. The Honeywell InView inspection service will combine the proven performance of the Intel Falcon 8+…

Robotics In Maintenance Strategies (RIMS BV) is the first company to receive an attestation from Bureau Veritas (BV) Marine & Offshore, as an approved service supplier via use of ‘Remote Inspection Techniques’ (drones). Drones will be used during surveys of hull structure of ships and mobile offshore units classed with BV. RIMS are a global provider of…