Solar & Grid Thermography in Kress & Swisher County
Utility-scale solar IR inspections for plants up to 700 MW in the heart of the Texas Panhandle solar corridor.
Kress sits at the epicenter of Texas Panhandle solar development. This area hosts some of the largest solar PV installations in the United States—facilities with 600+ MW capacity, nearly a million modules, and multi-billion-dollar corporate power purchase agreements.
Aerial Accuracy is based in Hale County, just 25 miles from Kress. We specialize in utility-scale solar and grid thermography, with inspection programs purpose-built for the massive solar plants that define this region.
Why Kress & Swisher County Matter for Solar
- ✓Home to 600+ MW utility-scale installations representing some of the largest solar projects in the US
- ✓High-voltage ERCOT interconnections delivering renewable energy to Texas and beyond
- ✓Harsh Panhandle climate—hail, wind, dust storms, and 100°F+ temperature swings stress modules and accelerate degradation
- ✓Corporate PPA economics where every megawatt-hour of lost production has real financial impact
Our inspection program is designed around this scale: big plants, tough conditions, and zero tolerance for undetected failures.
Utility-Scale Solar O&M Inspections
We provide IEC 62446-3–aligned aerial infrared inspections for solar plants in and around Kress:
- Commissioning / handover baselines for new facilities (full-site detailed thermal)
- Annual full-site inspections to support O&M contracts and warranty compliance
- Quarterly phased inspections (~120-150 MW sections per quarter for 400-600 MW plants)
- Post-event surveys after hail storms or equipment failures flagged by SCADA
For each inspection campaign, we capture:
- Radiometric 640×512 thermal imagery at module-level ground sample distance
- RTK GNSS positioning so every thermal anomaly maps to exact row/module coordinates
- Data collected under IEC 62446-3 environmental conditions (≥600 W/m² irradiance, stable weather)
What You Get After We Fly
We deliver actionable data your O&M team can use immediately:
Raw Data Outputs
- • Radiometric thermal orthomosaics (GeoTIFF)
- • RTK-tagged anomaly tables (CSV/Excel with GPS coordinates)
- • KML/shapefile overlays for direct import into GIS or Google Earth
Analysis & Reports
- • PDF summary: MW impacted, defect counts, ΔT ranges
- • Defect breakdown: modules, strings, BOS, trackers
- • Prioritized hit list by inverter block for work orders
- • Optional: Full IEC compliance package for warranties
If you use a solar analytics platform, CMMS, or asset management system, we'll format outputs to integrate with your existing stack.
Local Position, Utility-Scale Focus
Based 25 miles from Kress in Hale County, we offer:
- Rapid mobilization when narrow weather windows open (600+ W/m² irradiance, clear skies)
- Zero travel fees within our core service area; transparent pricing for extended coverage
- Principal thermographer directly involved in flight planning and QA for all utility-scale projects
- In-house GPU processing—approximately 2 weeks faster than vendors using external processing queues
We're not a general drone company. Most of our work is utility-scale solar and grid-connected electrical infrastructure. Our checklists, flight plans, and deliverable templates are built specifically for assets in the 20-700 MW range.
Example Program for a 600+ MW Plant Near Kress
For a facility in the 600+ MW range (approaching 1 million modules), a typical inspection program might include:
Year 1 (Commissioning):
Full-site baseline inspection to establish thermal performance benchmarks and identify any construction-phase defects before warranty clock starts
Year 2+ (Ongoing O&M):
- • Quarterly phased inspections: 4 sections × ~150 MW each
- • Annual full-site inspection to maintain warranty compliance
- • Optional: Biannual focused checks on known high-degradation areas
As Needed (Event Response):
- • Post-hail emergency surveys with 24-48 hour preliminary findings
- • Insurance/warranty claim-ready reports within 10-14 days of flight completion
- • Targeted re-inspections after repair campaigns to validate fixes
Realistic Timeline for 150 MW Section:
14-23 calendar days from mobilization to final deliverable. This includes pre-flight coordination, weather-dependent flight ops, in-house GPU processing, AI-assisted anomaly detection, and IEC-compliant reporting.