Flown to the standard. Interpreted by engineers.
Anyone can fly a thermal drone. Sinovoltaics performs infrared thermography to IEC TS 62446-3 - the standard your lender and insurer recognise - and has every anomaly classified by PV engineers who know what a hotspot means, what caused it, and whether it is worth your money to fix.
[Request a thermography scope]
What thermographic inspection covers
Thermographic inspection detects abnormal heat signatures in operating PV plants - failed modules and strings, bypass-diode faults, connection and combiner issues, PID and severe soiling - using drone-mounted and handheld IR cameras under defined irradiance conditions per IEC TS 62446-3.
Included:
- 100% aerial coverage of the plant by drone IR, flown under IEC TS 62446-3 conditions (irradiance, angle, resolution)
- Handheld verification of critical anomalies at module and connection level
- Inverse (nighttime) thermography where operating conditions demand it
- Engineering classification of every anomaly: type, severity, probable cause, recommended action
- EL cross-verification of suspect areas - thermal anomalies confirmed at cell level (field EL testing)
- Georeferenced defect maps linked to string and module positions
Deliverables: IEC 62446-3-conformant thermography report, anomaly register with severity classes, defect maps, repair prioritisation.
Why the standard matters
A thermal flight without defined irradiance, stable conditions and adequate resolution produces colourful pictures - not evidence. IEC TS 62446-3 defines when a thermographic inspection is valid: minimum irradiance, camera and lens specifications, flight parameters, and reporting content.
Reports that meet the standard are accepted by lenders for financing conditions, by insurers for risk assessment, and by OEMs and EPCs in warranty discussions. Reports that don’t are opinions. Every Sinovoltaics campaign is IEC 62446-3 compliant aerial thermography by design - conformity stated in the report, not assumed.
All Sinovoltaics thermography campaigns are flown under EU drone regulations (EASA 2019/947) by certified pilots, with anomaly analysis performed by PV engineers - not by the drone operator’s software alone.
What thermography finds (and what it can’t)
Finding | Thermography | Confirmed by |
Failed modules / strings | ✓ strong | IV curve tracing |
Bypass-diode faults | ✓ strong | Electrical testing |
Connection & combiner hotspots | ✓ strong | Visual + electrical |
PID | ✓ pattern-level | EL + IV curve |
Microcracks | ✗ (invisible thermally until severe) | |
Soiling & shading losses | ✓ | Visual |
Thermography is the fastest full-plant screening method - and the reason the Annual Plant Health Program pairs it with EL sampling: IR finds where to look, EL proves what happened.
When you need this
- Annual plant screening: fastest 100% health check available
- Suspected hotspots, string outages or combiner issues
- Pre-acquisition or refinancing: lender-grade IEC 62446-3 documentation
- After grid events or inverter faults, to localise damage
- Insurance requirements following thermal events in the region
