Mark Culpepper of Dronebase; Drones for Large Scale Solar Inspection

Solar inspection in an industrial solar farm is an enormous task, even for large companies. It takes days or even weeks for teams to do a complete sweep of the solar project from the ground. Aerial solar inspection has become the easiest and best way to inspect solar. 

Mark Culpepper is the general manager of DroneBase, the leader in intelligent aerial imaging and data analytics for the entire lifecycle of renewable energy assets. Dronebase uses manned and unmanned drones with thermal and RGB (visible light) cameras to inspect solar farms from above. 

Mark joined DroneBase in 2021 when his Precision XYZ, a solar-focused drone data services firm Mark founded in 2016, was acquired by Dronebase. He previously worked as the Chief Technology Officer, GM Global Asset Management, from 2005 to 2011 for SunEdison.

On this episode of Clean Power Hour, Mark joins Tim Montague to discuss Dronebase’s unique solar inspection model, the limitations and challenges Dronebase is facing using manned and unmanned aircraft for solar inspection, and much more.

Marc explains how a gap in the market drove him from SunEdison to the drone solar data market and Precision XYZ’s acquisition by Dronebase. 

Listen in for insight on how drones are used to gather data on solar projects and much more. 

Key Takeaways
1. How Mark got involved with solar energy? 
2. His work at SunEdison?
3. The thinking behind founding Precision XYZ.
4. The challenges he faced in the early days at Precision XYZ.
5. How he got involved with drones to do topography mapping, construction inspection, and thermal inspection? 
6. The Dronebase acquisition process of Precision XYZ.
7. Dronebase’s business model.
8. The challenges of using manned and unmanned drones for solar assessment.

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Bringing you the latest cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’
The podcast is available on YouTube and audio platforms like Spotify, Apple, Google, and Amazon. Each week, we bring you interviews with cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, manufacturers, and energy professionals writ large. What technologies are trending? Why are we excited about agrivoltaics or dual-use solar? What are the challenges and opportunities for renewable energy, electrification of transportation, and decarbonizing the economy? Listen, like, comment, and share! Get all of our content at www.CleanPowerHour.com and reach out to Tim Montague @tgmontague on Twitter or Gmail. The Clean Power Hour hosts and cleantech professionals Tim Montague and John Weaver (the Commercial Solar Guy) bring you the latest solar, wind, and energy storage news.

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