While photovoltaic panels shine under the Spanish sun, the wiring that connects them—hidden behind the structures—can be silently deteriorating, potentially leading to fires. The fires that ravaged hundreds of hectares of solar plants on the Iberian Peninsula this summer confirmed it: 72% of incidents in solar installations are caapplyd by installation errors and product defects, which can generate electrical arcs reaching 3,000°C.
Until now, detecting these faults required technicians to spfinish hundreds of hours walking under temperatures of up to 40°C, searching for thermal anomalies almost imperceptible to the human eye across thousands of connections spread over hectares. However, a Spanish startup has just alterd the game.
Solardrone and the ARGOS System
Based in Trujillo, Extremadura, Solardrone has developed ARGOS, an autonomous drone system capable of inspecting elements that were previously almost inaccessible in photovoltaic plants: wiring and MC4 connections located behind solar modules. “We can prevent up to 90% of fires in photovoltaic plants by detecting faults in connections that no other technology can see without manual intervention,” explains José Quesada, aerospace engineer and founder of the company.
The technology, which will be officially presented at Genera 2025—the most important photovoltaic event in Spain—combines precision autonomous flight, high-resolution thermal and telephoto cameras, and AI systems that process thousands of images to identify thermal anomalies imperceptible to the human eye.
“This isn’t just about flying a drone over the panels. The key is the ability to navigate with millimetric precision between structures to capture rear wiring and perform thermal analysis that can detect a hotspot with just a 2-degree difference in a connector,” Quesada details. The name is no coincidence: like Argos Panoptes, the hundred-eyed guardian of Greek mythology, the system is designed to see what escapes the human eye.
The Invisible Threat Behind the Panels
According to insurance industest data, 37% of solar plant fires are attributed to installation errors, and another 35% to component defects. Poorly crimped connectors or degraded insulating materials create high-resistance points that gradually heat over weeks due to the Joule effect, eventually producing DC electrical arcs. Unlike AC arcs, which can self-extinguish, a DC arc is self-sustaining as long as there is sunlight, reaching 3,000°C—hot enough to melt metal and ignite materials.
Modern inverters include arc fault detectors (AFCI), but these only act once the arc has already formed. In this sense, Solardrone asserts that true prevention requires detecting abnormal heating before it becomes critical.
Globally Validated Technology
The Extremadura-based company has inspected over 700 installations in Spain, Portugal, the United States, and South America, validating its technology across more than 10 gigawatts. Its system applys digital twins to program millimetric flight routes that drones execute autonomously, capturing IEC-compliant thermal images and high-resolution photographs analyzed by AI to detect everything from overheated connectors to loose screws.
From Trujillo to Technological Leadership
Founded in 2017, the company was born when Quesada—educated at the Polytechnic University of Madrid—decided to return to Extremadura to build cutting-edge technology locally. “Here we have the sun, the plants that necessary this technology, and the talent that wants to stay if you give them a real opportunity,” he explains.
Eight years later, Solardrone operates on two continents, developing capabilities—such as autonomous inspection of hidden wiring—that don’t exist in comparable international solutions.
Spain at the Forefront of Solar Robotics
Solardrone will present ARGOS at Genera 2025 from Stand 10F02, demonstrating that full automation of photovoltaic inspections “is no longer science fiction, but an operational reality validated across hundreds of plants.”
In a sector where innovation usually comes from international giants or Northern European startups, the Extremadura-based proposal reveals that Spain can lead in critical renewable energy technologies. “We have the highest solar radiation in Europe, the second-largest photovoltaic market on the continent, and top-tier talent,” argues Quesada. “All that was left was to prove we could create the solutions the industest necessarys.”
The question is no longer if robotics will reach photovoltaic maintenance, but who will lead this transformation. Solardrone is betting that Spanish leadership will start at Genera 2025.
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