Latvia born startup, Aerones has created a drone that can help lower the cost of clean energy. It can help de-ice wind turbines and remove bugs from the blades.  The square-shaped device has several propellers including a nozzle to spray liquid on the surface of wind turbines while making a fast zig-zag motion.

Earlier this year, Aerones tested out the device at a wind farm in Latvia. The drone not only cleans wind turbines, but can also remove bugs from solar panels and the sides of buildings.  The creators of this handy drone will go before a room of potential investors next week (including the media). They will carry out a presentation that will last up to 2 minutes and hopefully, gets the attention of potential investors and customers.

They will be able to explain what the drone does to people who plan on investing in the technology. The company has many plans for this little drone and will spend the next few months fine-tuning their ideas and finding new customers with the help of Y Combinator.  Aerones’ drone is an example of the emerging trend of drones being developed for the renewable energy industry.

These drones are also intended to carry out many tasks like monitoring and inspecting hardware and power lines and keeping renewable energy systems clean.

Drones can be used to carry out many jobs more quickly and at a lower cost than what humans are capable of.  Imagine how much lower the cost of energy can be if solar and wind development companies can lower their overall costs.  This means that energy options will become cheaper and compete more effectively. As clean energy gets cheaper, it will become more accessible to homes who want to offset their carbon emissions. Companies will benefit from it too because it will help them with their corporate sustainability goals.  Solar operators are starting to look at drones as a means to resolving a lot of the problems faced in the industry. Using drones means that they can operate more efficiently and maintain solar farms at a lower cost.

Already, the cost of wind and solar energy is low, and in some places, it’s even cheaper than coal and natural gas. But wind and solar companies are always looking for cheaper and better ways to compete in the industry.  If drones can help them maintain and manage their wind and solar farms more efficiently, it’s worth every penny.

Drones can also be used to inform operators when solar panels are not working. They can be used to notify them when electrical wiring overheats or burns out.

The fact is that in recent years wind turbines have been made taller and their blades larger. What this means is that solar and wind companies can produce cheaper energy, but it becomes more difficult to maintain these infrastructures.  With drones, however, these huge wind turbines can be inspected and parts easily replaced with ease. A startup called Skyspecs has already created a drone that flies high enough to inspect wind turbine blades and carry out inspections within 15 minutes. There are so many use cases available to solar and wind operators, and we expect to see more drone innovations from the industry within the next few years.

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