DroneBase has announced it has raised $7.5 million in Series C funding and will be expanding its drone services into Europe with DroneBase Europe located in Germany. The move will see its services in the renewable energy market coming to Europe in the form of its new platform, DroneBase Insights for Wind and Solar.
New investors Valor Equity Partners and Razi Ventures have hopped aboard with current investors Union Square Ventures (USV), Upfront Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and DJI, raising the total funding DroneBase has received to $35 million.
The new DroneBase Insights for Wind and Solar platform will allow clients to inspect wind turbines using drones using an autonomous flight system. The system has been trained using a large database of wind turbines allowing images captured to be checked straight away to look out for any possible issues with the wind turbines and its blades.
On the solar side of the platform pilots trained at FLIR’s Infrared Training Center will allow for accurate data to be gathered, and will point out thermal hot spots, and possible defects on the solar panels. In the coming months, the software will be able to automatically detect and issues with both wind and solar installations making the system almost fully autonomous and reducing downtime.
Dan Burton, CEO and Founder of DroneBase, had the following to share on the new platform and the reason the company has moved into the renewable energy market.
“DroneBase’s expansion into renewable energy reflects our belief in the growth potential of the wind and solar energy industries. Since many energy companies have both wind and solar assets, we are well positioned to leverage our DroneBase Insights platform to grow our global market share in renewable energy.”
Jamie Mordarski, Director of Operations and Maintenance, Americas at SMA, a company that has been using the DroneBase Insights for Wind and Solar platform, had the following to say.
“DroneBase has been instrumental in helping us scale solar asset inspection and analysis across North America. Their ability to provide 100 percent aerial coverage by using drones and manned aircraft gives them a tremendous competitive advantage. We look forward to growing our partnership with DroneBase as our portfolio grows.”
Should drones be used more often in the inspection of renewable energy installations? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo: DroneBase
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments