Santa Cruz, Calif.-based InspecTools Inc. has announced a strategic partnership with Vestas in which they will work together to deploy drone-based inspections of wind turbine blades in North America.
Denmark-headquartered Vestas is a global provider of wind turbine manufacturing and maintenance services. The company has installed wind power in 75 countries – reaching 75 GW of cumulative capacity.
Using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and other means of acquiring asset-condition data, InspecTools develops and deploys inspection systems for the wind energy, solar energy, and electric power transmission and distribution markets. Once collected, condition data is processed and analyzed by InspecTools’ software, and findings are delivered to field personnel in support of asset maintenance.
For inclusion in its BladeCare service package in North America, Vestas has selected InspecTools’ UAS inspection systems.
“Our partnership will allow InspecTools and Vestas to immediately launch commercial-scale drone inspections operations,” notes Chris Bley, CEO of InspecTools.
Peter Wells, vice president of service for Vestas, adds, “InspecTools’ technology is operationally ready and commercially scalable – which means we can offer our customers safer, faster and more effective blade inspections immediately.”
Photo (L to R): Bley and Wells
