Paolo Brianzoni, CEO of Visual Working SA, talks to PES about the exciting developments in drone inspection. The company is pushing the boundaries to bring the ultimate in image quality and data richness. This means there is the occasional crash, but they just pick themselves up and improve…
PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organisation and how you currently serve the wind industry?
Paolo Brianzoni: Ciao wind energy enthusiasts! It’s a pleasure to talk with you about drones! Visual Working has been operating UAVs (drones) since 2013 in a wide variety of applications, from TV shows, advertisements and cinema aerial media productions to high altitude alpine dams and wind turbine inspections. Finding the right solution to satisfy our clients’ needs when flying in the most difficult and often extreme environments can prove a real challenge. On a daily basis, we relish the mission of tackling this challenge!
In the wind energy field we have been pioneering UAV Wind Turbine Inspections since 2013, when the first tests performed in the North Sea, using a custom built UAV, resulted in very promising outcomes regarding both efficiency and image quality. The initial goal of inspecting fifteen 44m blades per day was reached during the first inspection season, while, during the 2016 inspection season, we set a new world record with 45 blades inspected in one working day and an average of 10.3 WTG/ day over 248 offshore wind turbines.
