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Petit-Saut
Commissioned in 1994, the Petit-Saut dam closes the Sinnamary river some sixty kilometres from its estuary. We have been flying over its lake since 2018: georeferenced photos and orthophotos of the banks in 2018 and 2019, a search for giant otter dens on the islands in 2020, and night-time detection of primates with a thermal camera for the French Biodiversity Agency in February 2026. On the platform, we followed the sawmill construction every month from March 2023 to September 2025 (31 visits, several time-lapses) and updated the virtual tour of the biomass plant construction from May 2023 to September 2025, before the tour and video of the site’s inauguration on 14 October 2025. We have also measured biomass stockpiles and the sawmill platforms, and validated our new LiDAR on the access road in June 2026.
Key facts
| Sawmill | 31 monthly visits, March 2023 – September 2025 |
|---|---|
| Inauguration | 14 October 2025: virtual tour and video of the site |
| Missions listed | 14 |
On the map
14 missions at this location
Trial analysis of the submerged trees of the Petit-Saut lake
A 3 ha test plot chosen by the operator to assess the submerged timber resource by drone; mission scheduled for 22 October 2026.
Corporate film for the Petit-Saut sawmill
Shoots from January to August 2026, from the lake to the sawmill output; 40-second short version in September, full film delivered on 14 October 2026.
Read the articleNew virtual tour of the Petit-Saut sawmill and lake
May 2026 version with 35 panoramas, five videos and ten albums, extended following the operator’s feedback; version 2 online on 24 August with 360° videos.
- 35 panoramas
Photogrammetric survey and stockpile volumes on the sawmill platforms
Survey of the northern and southern platforms on 21 July 2026: orthophoto and 3D model shared online, stockpile outlines drawn by the operator, three volume plans (northern, central and southern areas), continuing the site monitoring begun in March 2023.
Read the articleNight-time primate detection by thermal camera on the Petit-Saut lake
Ten flights on the evening of 25 February 2026 and from 4:30 am on the 26th, over islands where monkeys were known to be present, to measure the time and number of passes needed for detection; thermal, visible and screen videos per flight, positions in KML.
- 10 flights
Time-lapse of the Petit-Saut sawmill, July to November 2025
Camera installed on 1 July 2025 for three months, extended at the operator’s request until 18 November; edit with its logo and the months on screen delivered on 12 December, final version on the 15th.
A 44-panorama virtual tour and video for the inauguration of the Petit-Saut sawmill and energy hub
Tour plan agreed with both operators, 44 aerial and ground panoramas of the plant and the sawmill, nine albums from the 2023–2025 site monitoring, offline version for the event screen; video edited from the construction archive, delivered on 13 October for the inauguration on the 14th.
- 44 panoramas
End of the monthly monitoring of the Petit-Saut sawmill works: 31 visits
One photo visit a month from 6 March 2023 to 23 September 2025, northern and southern platforms, in JPEG and RAW; this archive was used for the albums and video of the inauguration.
- 31 monthly visits
Images of the Petit-Saut biomass plant for Voltalia’s communication
A selection of views extracted from the August 2025 360° panoramas, then full-resolution files for the inauguration’s printed visuals.
Tenth version of the biomass plant construction virtual tour
27 panoramas and a site plan, online on 1 September 2025: the last version before the inauguration tour.
- 27 panoramas
3 cm orthophoto of the Petit-Saut biomass plant
Capture on 25 July 2025, orthophoto in EPSG 2972 and site plan.
- 3 cm per pixel
Four updates in 2024 of the biomass plant construction virtual tour
March, May, August and December 2024 versions, each rebuilt from a new photo campaign on the site.
- 4 versions in 2024
Time-lapse of the sawmill’s southern platform, April to August 2024
Site camera installed on 2 April 2024; one- and two-minute edits delivered on top of the monthly photo visits.
Volume of a biomass stockpile spotted on the virtual tour
Volume requested by the client on 19 February 2024 after viewing the construction virtual tour: flight on 21 and 22 February registered on its GNSS base, plan delivered on the 23rd.
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97310 Kourou
French Guiana
Route des Trois-Îlets
97229 Les Trois-Îlets
Martinique
20030-041 Rio de Janeiro – RJ
Brazil