On behalf of a utility customer, DNV, the world’s leading resource of independent energy experts and technical advisors, needed a solution to manage a large-scale program that pays rebates to businesses based on the number of solar panels installed on their facilities. The alternative of having workers go onto rooftops to count modules manually was both unsafe and inefficient, which would undermine the rebate program’s goal of incentivizing the growth of commercial and industrial (C&I) solar in the utility’s customer base. 

In order to safely and reliably scale the program, DNV has partnered with Raptor Maps, a leading provider of solar asset health management solutions, to build an internal team of drone pilots and leverage Raptor Maps’ software platform to automate the reporting required.

Catalyzing growth in the C&I solar sector

As the solar industry surges forward, C&I solar installations play a crucial role in scaling renewable energy adoption. Effective implementation of the rebate program would help scale the C&I solar sector further, providing businesses with a reliable source of clean power and adding more resiliency to the grid.

For an accurate and efficient payout of the incentives, DNV needed a method of collecting the required data that was safe and cost-efficient. Collecting data through drones and automating reporting through software made natural sense, which led to DNV reaching out to Raptor Maps.

Unlocking operational flexibility with DNV’s drone team 

Raptor Maps’ enablement team is staffed with experts who have defined the drone-based flight guidelines and data capture standards for solar aerial thermography, and that expertise powers Raptor Maps customers with training and consulting on developing their own in-house data collection program.

After 3 days of training, DNV is now equipped with their own team of licensed drone pilots that can safely and scalably collect data not only to implement the rebate program, but provide other services to their customers enabled by drone technology.

Automated reporting for accurate implementation

Rather than having a worker on the rooftop manually counting panels, the Raptor Maps platform processes the data captured by drones, increasing the speed and accuracy of the panel counts - ultimately improving the flow of rebates to the businesses who have installed solar on their facilities. 

When the DNV team captures data and uploads to the platform for processing, the data is used for more than counting modules at scale: it is converted into a GIS-enabled digital twin, or a virtual rendering, of the solar installation, with granular equipment detail down to the individual module level. This digital twin serves as the foundation upon which analytics and insights can be layered on with precise geolocations, such as thermal anomalies detected in the thermography data captured by the drone or equipment notes captured by personnel on site.

Improving the customer experience

Using the drone to capture data and processing that data through Raptor Maps to accurately count modules and inspect rooftop installations provides DNV with the speed and operational flexibility required for the successful implementation of the rebate program.

“We're excited because this not only lets us implement an important program for our customer, but the team that we stood up with Raptor Maps' support will be able to conduct all sorts of drone missions for our customers,” said Scott DuBois, senior consultant at DNV. “With the efficiency and accuracy we get from the drone data collection and from the Raptor Maps software, we’ll be able to get accurate rebates out the door quickly to the businesses helping the energy transition.”