Over the next half decade, solar will outpace every other energy source in new capacity added to the grid. But as project portfolios grow larger and more complex, the focus is shifting from simply building solar farms to ensuring they operate safely, efficiently, and profitably for decades. To meet this challenge, asset owners are investing in robotics and automation to help their operations and maintenance teams monitor asset health at scale.
Traditionally, the conversation around equipment health inspections using robotics has focused on what can be seen on the front of the panel — cracks, hotspots, shading, or cell degradation. But increasingly, operators and owners are turning their attention to how robots can help them inspect the back of the panel. This is where critical mechanical and electrical components live, and where failures can introduce serious risks to both performance and safety.
In this article, we’ll dive into:
What can actually be inspected behind the panel
Why these inspections matter for the long-term health of solar projects
Why autonomous drones are proving to be the most effective solution for capturing this data at scale
What You Can Inspect Behind the Panel
Behind every module lies a network of wiring, junction boxes, connectors, and mechanical components that keep trackers moving and power flowing. These elements are central to system reliability, and they should be inspected routinely to proactively ensure that sites are minimizing risk, and maximizing output.
Common issues that back-of-panel inspections target include:
Overheating connectors: Connectors are frequent points of failure. When improperly installed, poorly crimped, or simply degraded over time, they can overheat under load. Overheated connectors aren’t just efficiency losses — they are genuine fire hazards.
Insulation “shrink back:” In some cases, the insulation around a wire can retract, leaving copper exposed. This makes the system vulnerable to arcing, corrosion, ground fault, or water damage.
Damaged wiring: Cables under tension, cut by sharp edges, or pinched during installation are at higher risk of failure. Catching these issues early prevents costly string or row-level outages.
Junction box faults: Junction boxes are important for maintaining electrical flow. When these junctions overheat, or the wiring within them becomes loose, this can cause energy loss or cascading failures.
Bushings, torque tubes, and dampers: These mechanical components keep trackers aligned and operating smoothly. Improperly manufactured or installed bushings can wear down quickly, threatening both mechanical stability and energy capture.
Each of these issues represents a potential point of weakness in a solar farm’s performance. And because they’re not visible from the front of the array, they can go undetected for long periods unless specific inspections are carried out.
A high thermal signature on an overheated MC4 connector, captured with an autonomously flown drone
Why It's Essential to Inspect Behind-the-Panel
The business case for inspecting the backs of modules is simple: small problems back here can escalate into big problems for the entire project.
Safety risks: Exposed copper, overheating connectors, or loose junctions can all become ignition points. With dry vegetation under and around arrays, the fire risk is real. Early detection prevents catastrophic incidents.
Performance losses: A single compromised connector or damaged cable can knock out a string of modules, reducing output and revenue. Scale that across a large site, and the losses add up quickly.
Warranty and compliance: Many warranties require proactive inspection and documentation of components. Being able to demonstrate inspections of behind-panel equipment helps operators stay compliant and protect against liability.
Reduced truck rolls: Traditional approaches require manual crews to walk rows and visually check wiring or junctions. Not only is this slow and expensive, it produces inconsistent data. Automated drone inspections streamline this process and provide consistent results.
Growing asset size: Utility-scale sites are no longer measured in tens of megawatts; they’re now hundreds or even thousands. The larger the site, the more critical it becomes to have efficient inspection strategies that can cover the hidden backside of every module.
In short, behind-the-panel inspections are not optional. They’re a proactive strategy for reducing risk, preserving asset value, and safeguarding long-term performance.
Drones can inspect even small details, such as the hardware that attaches to a tracker
Case Study
Case Study: On a recent back-of-panel inspection of a >150 MW site, we found over 700 thermal anomalies on MC4 connectors. This data, which was stored in a digital twin of the site, enabled the site team to efficiently geo-locate and remediate each connection before a more serious risk, such as a fire, could metastasize. All of this data was captured in a matter of hours, not days, allowing site teams to diagnose, remediate, and move on to other punchlist tasks efficiently.
An Autonomous Drone in a Box Unit Deploying on a Utility Solar Site
Why Drones Are the Best Solution for Behind-the-Panel Inspections
At Raptor Maps, we believe that autonomous drones are the most effective solution for inspecting behind panels. When compared with alternative options, especially ground robotics solutions, drones excel in three key categories: speed, consistency, and cost-effectiveness.
1. Speed and Coverage
Time is critical for behind-the-panel inspections, especially when thermal data is involved. Thermal signatures change as irradiance fluctuates throughout the day, which means inspections must be performed quickly to standardize results.
Autonomous drones excel here. Especially when compared to ground-based robotics options which operate more slowly, and struggle to move through more challenging terrain, drones can cover a site in a fraction of the time. Faster data acquisition means faster turnaround to action. On solar sites, this reduction in latency enables operators to act on their data more rapidly.
2. Reliability and Consistency
Inspection data is only useful if it is consistent. Manual inspections are prone to human error and variation in technique, leading to uneven data quality. Inspections led by ground robots, again, are subject to changes in terrain that make it challenging to capture data from the same angle with each passing inspection. Autonomous drones remove that variability.
They fly pre-programmed routes with precision, capturing standardized thermal and visual imagery across every row on every flight. This ensures that the data from one inspection is comparable to the next, enabling true trend analysis over time. That consistency is invaluable for identifying early warning signs and confirming whether remediation efforts are working.
3. Cost-Effectiveness at Scale
Solar assets are scaling in size and complexity. As portfolios grow, inspection strategies must scale with them. Autonomous drones deliver cost savings by reducing the number of truck rolls required, minimizing manual labor, and accelerating the pace of data collection.
For owners and operators managing dozens of sites, the economics of autonomously operating drones are compelling: high-frequency, high-quality inspections without proportional increases in cost.
Conclusion
Behind-the-panel inspections are one of the most important components of solar asset management. The components hidden behind each module may not be visible, but their health directly affects performance, safety, and profitability.
Autonomous drones are unlocking a new era of inspections, combining speed, consistency, and cost-effectiveness to deliver reliable insights at scale. For owners and operators managing increasingly large and complex sites, drones provide a proactive solution to ensure solar farms operate safely, efficiently, and profitably for decades to come.
Next steps
From the civil engineering on your site down to the wiring on the back of your panels, the Raptor Solar platform provides you detailed, up-to-date data on the conditions and performance of your solar fleet so that your team has the intel they need to do their jobs effectively, quickly, and safely.
