India’s photo voltaic power sector is present process an enormous transformation, led instantly by ‘PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’, the world’s largest rooftop photo voltaic initiative. The objective is to deliver solar energy to 1 crore households by March 2027.
As installations quickly improve, with over 10 lakh installations anticipated by subsequent month, the numbers are anticipated to double by October this 12 months, attain 40 lakhs by March 2026, and in the end obtain the goal of 1 crore by March 2027.
Bengaluru-based Skylark Drones is on the forefront of reworking the renewable power sector and making a major impression by providing AI-powered drone know-how to automate photo voltaic panel inspections, detect defects, and optimise efficiency.
This method enhances the standard and quantity of information collected, reduces prices and ensures employee security.
In an unique interview with AIM, Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy, co-founder and CEO of Skylark Drones, revealed the startup’s plans to scale its drone imaging processes for photo voltaic panels in numerous cities of India. He additional shared insights into the corporate’s various initiatives and their impression on the business.
The corporate is actively concerned in initiatives starting from rooftop photo voltaic potential mapping to photo voltaic panel defect detection, showcasing its dedication to enhancing the effectivity and security of photo voltaic power infrastructure.
India’s First Software program for Spray Administration
On Tuesday, the startup unveiled Drone Mission Ops (DMO) for agriculture, India’s first software program platform that’s set to rework how agricultural drones are managed and operated throughout the nation, on the Krishi Darshan Expo 2025 in Hisar.
The platform, compliant with the Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA), presents options comparable to real-time fleet administration, crop-specific suggestions, and automatic well being monitoring. It is usually accessible in native languages.
Whereas the corporate has already executed over 10 million autonomous drone flights and processed over 100 million drone photos throughout greater than 120 enterprise prospects nationwide, it nonetheless faces challenges, together with regulatory hurdles and the necessity for larger consciousness and adoption of drone know-how.
The corporate is backed by buyers, together with Thakral Company, Information Edge Ventures, AdvantEdge Companions, Turbostart, IIM Udaipur Incubation Centre, and Hunch Ventures.
Mapping Rooftop Photo voltaic Potential
Skylark Drones collaborated with the renewable power ministry to map rooftop photo voltaic potential throughout 120 Indian cities.
The size of the undertaking is huge, with the corporate mapping round 10 crore to twenty crore roofs throughout these cities in nearly six months.
Through the use of drones with high-resolution imaging (5 centimetres per pixel information), Skylark can decide the optimum variety of photo voltaic panels for a given roof and estimate the ability era potential.
The PM Surya Ghar scheme, launched by PM Narendra Modi on February 13 final 12 months, presents households a subsidy of as much as 40%, making renewable power extra inexpensive and accessible.
Inside 9 months of the launch, 6.3 lakh installations had been accomplished, leading to a month-to-month set up fee of 70,000 – ten occasions increased than the pre-scheme common.
This system goals to learn one crore households and is anticipated to save lots of the federal government ₹75,000 crores yearly in electrical energy prices.
The startup faces competitors from gamers like Asteria Aerospace, ideaForge and Envoler Improvements, which supply drone-based options for anomaly detection, plant surveillance, and thermography.
Different notable corporations contributing to drone purposes in photo voltaic power embrace FlyNex and world gamers DJI Enterprise.
Skylark claims to have labored on over 2.25 GW of power for gamers like Bosch, CleanMax Photo voltaic, SB Vitality, Sterling and Wilson, Sprng Vitality, and so forth.
Actual-Time Inspection and Mud Detection
Skylark Drones additionally focuses “on robotically detecting defects in photo voltaic panels” to optimise power manufacturing.
Relating to ground-mounted photo voltaic installations, the place “there are practically one lakh photo voltaic panels”, figuring out faulty panels is essential. The startup supplies a mapping service that pinpoints the precise location of faulty panels, enabling focused upkeep and improved power output.
The corporate’s work with CleanMax Photo voltaic entails perimeter surveillance and real-time inspection of a 350 MW plant spanning roughly 1,500 acres.
Utilizing drone know-how built-in with dock stations, Skylark screens the perimeter and identifies defects. “We’ve a real-time defect identification software program the place the drone robotically goes to the panel and identifies this defect,” Ramasamy said.
Drones geared up with dock stations monitor the perimeter at night time, figuring out defects in actual time. The system notifies personnel of the particular panel requiring inspection and restore, permitting for speedy motion.
Furthermore, the corporate is growing a ‘mud detection module’ to establish mud accumulation on photo voltaic panels, which may doubtlessly be utilized in purposes for focused drone cleansing options. “You may have a spraying drone, which is able to go spray solely these locations that are soiled,” Ramasamy stated.
This know-how can optimise cleansing schedules and cut back water consumption by focused spraying for amenities with lots of of 1000’s of panels. The corporate envisions a future use case the place drones might be geared up to wash photo voltaic panels, additional lowering water utilization, handbook labour, and upkeep prices.
“Price per unit of photo voltaic will cut back as a result of upkeep price and water wastage now reduces and we will save no less than 10 paise to twenty paise like this,” Ramasamy identified.
Skylark Drones’ method to solar energy, integrating mapping, defect detection, and real-time inspection, underscores its dedication to revolutionising the business by drone-based options.
Furthermore, the corporate is concerned in flood threat evaluation for photo voltaic farms, serving to corporations to strategically set up photo voltaic parks in safer areas.
Not Restricted to Photo voltaic
Skylark is making a software program platform to scale options for numerous corporations, every with totally different use instances.
Ramasamy defined that whereas scaling these options will be troublesome and requires numerous account-based administration, there may be a lot scope for studying from each buyer interplay.
As a substitute of merely making use of a one-size-fits-all answer, the corporate focuses on understanding every shopper’s distinctive issues and tailoring an answer from their “basket” choices. For instance, they just lately closed a take care of GPS Renewables, a biogas producer.
The startup has additionally labored with corporations comparable to Tata to observe stockpiles and use drones to estimate the amount of excavated minerals in stockyards.
This information is displayed on a dashboard, enabling purchasers to observe inventory ranges, carry out FIFO (first in, first out) evaluation, and decide transport priorities.
“They excavate all their mine minerals and put them in a stockyard. We fly our drone each day to estimate how a lot quantity is there within the stockyard.”
Within the case of biogas, the corporate requires a quantity dashboard. “The stockyard shrinks each day by some centimetres, and we monitor how a lot is shrinking and supply acceptable companies.”
Furthermore, with different companions like UltraTech Cement, the startup carries out seamless Mineral Conservation and Improvement Guidelines-compliant drone surveys and inspections.
By reworking drone information into actionable insights, the drone business is about to revolutionise sectors past solar energy, together with mining, infrastructure, and extra.
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