What to consider to optimize your assets and decrease downtime By Tom Hall, Head of Condition Monitoring Services, SkySpecs The wind industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, and as a result, the need for effective maintenance strategies has become more important than ever. One of the most critical components of a wind turbine…

A few years ago, sending wind technicians up-tower was the O&M option to conduct turbine tower and blade inspections. Advancements in drone technology or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), however, have turned such labor-intensive maintenance efforts into a more precise, streamlined process. The global wind-turbine inspection drone market is expected to $6 billion in the next…

  There are now 18,814 MW of installed offshore wind capacity in 17 markets around the world. Offshore wind farms are susceptible to many maintenance issues from the extreme conditions at sea, such as high wind and elemental exposure. Blade health is key to continuous turbine operation and reduced downtime. To mitigate blade damage and…

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…

SkySpecs has launched a new wind-turbine analytics and management software that will support automating the analysis, creation, and execution of preventative-maintenance programs on wind farms. Horizon enables all key players in the wind-energy industry to ground their turbine-maintenance and -repair processes in a consistent, ongoing cycle of data collection, analysis, and planning to optimize repair…

  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…

Drone company, SkySpecs, announced that it has completed a record number of automated wind-turbine inspections in a 30-day period. The company provides fully automated blade inspections using a drone and intuitive software that allows for high-quality data and safer inspections. “It has been an exciting few months at SkySpecs with operations in multiple states and countries,”…

Today, SkySpecs inspections take less than 15 minutes

Siemens is collaborating with U.S.-based company SkySpecs to deploy automated drone technology for onshore and offshore wind-turbine inspections. The goal is to develop a push-button inspection system that is faster, repeatable, and more efficient than existing methods. Siemens is involving its Wind Power business and its next47 venture unit, which was established in October 2016…

SkySpecs of Ann Arbor will receive a Small Business Voucher from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, according to U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. SkySpecs deploys autonomous drones for inspections of wind turbines. Working with Sandia National Labs, the project will focus on the validation of blade damage data to assist…

Last week SkySpecs was awarded a 333 exemption – the only type of clearance that authorizes companies to legally fly drones in the U.S. This FAA Exemption allows SkySpecs to fly an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with its proprietary collision-avoidance technology called Guardian to visually inspect and photograph wind turbines. “This is new ground. We are so…

UpWind Solutions, Inc., North America’s most comprehensive independent operations and maintenance (O&M) service provider for wind energy, adds blade inspections using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to their services by partnering with SkySpecs. The partnership will revolutionize the way wind turbines are inspected, by delivering high quality images for reports, improving safety and reducing inspection costs.…