Drones twinned with predictive analytics for windfarm solution

Solution is collaboration between UK’s ONYX Insight and South Korean drone firm Nearthlab

Predictive analytics company ONYX Insight has formed a partnership with South Korean drone firm Nearthlab to deliver a whole-turbine maintenance solution for windfarm operators in the US.  

The two companies said that their alliance is intended to address existing industry issues around how to make operations more efficient against a backdrop of a labour, resource and inflation-challenged environment.

UK-based ONYX Insight said it will utilize Nearthlab’s experience with mobile drone technology to reduce reliance on the availability of trained drone pilots and enable self-performing operators to perform visual inspections of their turbine blades for substantially lower costs. 

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ONYX Insight chief commercial officer Ashley Crowther said: “After two years of collaboration with Nearthlab across a large fleet of assets, we’ve identified strong benefits to turbine health management by combining our technologies into one unified offer.

“For major components in a fleet, the damage cases can be managed efficiently, end-to-end, from detection through to repair and QAQC.”  

The partnership will cover North America, with ONYX Insight licensed to use Nearthlab’s Zoomable software to assess the health of wind turbines.