Urbasolar: five rooftop plants checked by thermography in Martinique and Guadeloupe
From March 2024 to April 2026: 4,082 modules in La Trinité, a string identification protocol, two roofs in Le Lamentin in a single morning, a campaign repeated in Jarry once the plant was producing, and a survey before rewiring.
Background
Urbasolar operates rooftop photovoltaic plants in the French Caribbean. Between 2024 and 2026 its maintenance teams entrusted us with drone thermal surveys, each time with a specific question: identify faulty strings, locate modules cracked by over-tightened mounting clamps, or find the available positions and the incomplete strings before rewiring.
What we did
In La Trinité, on 12 March 2024, 10,090 m² of panels spread over several buildings, i.e. 4,082 modules; a technician switched off 2 then 4 strings during four flights, waiting 10 to 15 minutes each time for thermal inertia, to test their identification. In Le Lamentin, on 27 June 2025, two roofs of 491 kW and 66 kW, i.e. 2,640 modules, were flown between 11:00 and 12:15. In Jarry, on the 248 kWp plant of the SOCOGAR building, our partner Antilles Drone flew our flight plan, visible at 35 m for 1 cm per pixel and infrared at 30 m and 1 m/s in crossed grids; as the plant was not producing during the first visit, a second campaign was flown on 13 December 2025, with all inverters feeding in. Again in Le Lamentin, about a hundred modules had been removed to install smoke-vent frames: survey on 9 February 2026, thermography on 17 April once production had resumed.
5 related missions in the log
Survey and thermal survey of a rooftop plant before rewiring
About a hundred modules removed to install smoke-vent frames: survey on 9 February 2026, orthophoto, plan and 3D model delivered on the 12th, then thermal survey on 17 April once production had resumed, and DWG plans in July.
Read the articleSecond thermal survey of the SOCOGAR rooftop plant in Jarry
On Saturday 13 December 2025, with all inverters feeding in: visible and infrared orthophotos, report and multi-layer defect plan delivered on 15 December.
Read the articleThermal survey of the SOCOGAR photovoltaic plant in Jarry
248 kWp rooftop plant with 758 modules: flight plan designed by Sentinel and capture by our partner Antilles Drone, visible at 35 m for 1 cm per pixel and infrared at 30 m in crossed grids; report on 29 August, second visit on 13 December 2025 with the plant producing.
- 758 modules
Thermal survey of two photovoltaic roofs in Le Lamentin
2,640 modules on a warehouse and a store: visible (1.5 cm) and infrared (4 cm) orthophotos, multi-layer defect plan in PDF and DWG, report on 7 July 2025.
- 2 640 modules
First campaign for a photovoltaic plant operator
Preparation by video call, mission in the week of 11 March, additional flights in early April: thermal survey of La Trinité (4,082 modules checked, with strings switched off on purpose to test their identification) and inspection of the other plants.
- 4 082 modules
- 10 090 m² of panels
Gallery
Other projects
Eleven solar plants in 2026: 33,333 panels checked one by one
June to September 2026: eleven plants surveyed by thermography for Genergies in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana: 33,333 panels checked one by one.
Martinique coastline: three precision surveys, from 1.78 to 3.72 cm
At Pointe des Sables in Le Vauclin and in Saint-Pierre for DEAL Martinique, at the mouth of the Prêcheur river for BRGM during the lahar crisis: three orthophotos whose accuracy was measured on independent targets, delivered between one and five days after the flights.
Jarry-Houëlbourg: 327 hectares of wetland in a 2.36 cm orthophoto
For the Conservatoire du littoral, the orthophoto and surface model of the Jarry-Houëlbourg wetland and its edge with the business district: 15,445 images taken over one weekend in February 2026, 3.64 cm root-mean-square error on six check points.
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97310 Kourou
French Guiana
Route des Trois-Îlets
97229 Les Trois-Îlets
Martinique
20030-041 Rio de Janeiro – RJ
Brazil