Bellefontaine: 8,996 panels surveyed by thermography under medium-voltage lines

Background

The Bellefontaine plant, on the Caribbean coast of Martinique, has 8,996 modules of 550 Wp mounted on 346 tables, i.e. 2.3 hectares of panels on a 3.9-hectare site. Medium-voltage lines run above it, carried by 27 m pylons, with cables coming down to 10 m above the ground. Its operator, Genergies, wanted the same panel-by-panel diagnosis as in Le Carbet a month earlier.

What we did

We usually fly these thermal surveys at 25 m. Here, a flight plan below the cables was ruled out, and flying above them required a precise plan, set on the relief and on the height of the pylons. On 17 July, a LiDAR and photogrammetric reconnaissance survey produced the digital terrain model of the site; on 20 July, the infrared and visible flights were flown at 30 m above that model, with side overlap raised to 85% in the flight plan so that every panel could be seen between the cables. Infrared resolution went from 3 to 4 cm per pixel without hindering the reading of defects, and processing removed the cables from the orthophotos as far as possible. The flights took place under 1,100 W/m² of irradiance; every panel showing an anomaly has its own record, classified by type of defect. Report approved on 28 July, delivered on the 30th and published on Sentinel Cloud.

In the mission log

1. July 2026

   ThermographyMartinique

   Thermal survey of the Bellefontaine plant, beneath medium-voltage lines

   Bellefontaine · Genergies

   Medium-voltage lines on 27 m pylons above the plant: LiDAR survey on 17 July 2026 for the terrain model, then infrared and visible flights on 20 July, at 30 m above the terrain; 8,996 panels checked; results delivered and published on Sentinel Cloud on 30 July.

   • 8 996 panels
   • 30 m above the terrain

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