Solar Panel Surveys
A visual condition record of an installed array: cracked or delaminated modules, soiling, shading, damaged mounting rails and the state of the roof underneath.
A visual condition record of an installed array: cracked or delaminated modules, soiling, shading, damaged mounting rails and the state of the roof underneath.
What it shows
- Cracked, shattered or delaminating modules
- Soiling, bird fouling, moss and debris across the array
- Shading from trees, plant and neighbouring structures
- Damaged, distorted or corroded mounting rails and clamps
- Loose or missing fixings
- Cable trays, containment and how cabling is routed and secured
- Ponding, debris and blocked drainage around the array
- Condition of the roof covering under and around the panels
- Missing or displaced modules after a storm
- Vegetation encroachment on a ground-mounted array
Save time and money on solar diagnostics — look before you pay for electrical testing.
Get in touchStart with what you can see
When an array is underperforming, the diagnosis usually starts with electrical testing — which is right, but it often skips the cheaper question: is there anything visibly wrong with it?
A surprising amount of lost output has a visible cause. Soiling and bird fouling across a whole string. A tree that has grown into the shading envelope since commissioning. Three cracked modules after a hailstorm. A mounting rail that has worked loose and lifted a row out of plane.
Looking first costs a fraction of a full electrical investigation and often ends it before it starts. Where nothing is visibly wrong, that is useful too — it points the diagnosis firmly at the electrical side, which is where a thermal survey or an installer's testing takes over.
What you get
Save Time And Money On Solar Diagnostics
When an array underperforms, the investigation usually starts with electrical testing. That is right, and it also skips the cheaper question first: is there anything visibly wrong with it?
A surprising amount of lost output has a visible cause, and looking costs a fraction of a full electrical investigation.
A visual survey covers:
- Cracked, shattered and delaminating modules
- Soiling, bird fouling, moss and debris
- Shading from trees, plant and neighbouring structures
- Mounting rails, clamps and fixings
- Cable trays, containment and routing
- The condition of the roof beneath the array
Visual, Not Thermal — And We Will Say So
This is a visual survey. It is not thermal or infrared inspection, which needs a radiometric camera and finds a different class of fault — hot cells, bypass diode failures, string problems — that does not appear in ordinary imagery at all.
If that is what you need, you need a thermal specialist, and we would rather tell you plainly than sell you the survey we happen to offer.
Where the visual survey finds nothing, that is useful too: it points the diagnosis firmly at the electrical side, which is where testing or a thermal survey takes over.
Who asks for it
- Solar operations and maintenance contractors
- Asset owners auditing performance
- Insurers assessing hail or storm damage
What clients get from working with us
Timescales
Most sites are surveyed within two working days of instruction, with reports sent 24 hours after surveys.
Deliverables
Orthomosaics, 3D models, point clouds, elevation sets and edited media, supplied in the formats your team already works in.
Coverage
Operating throughout the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia.
Compliance
Fully authorised and insured, with a site-specific risk assessment issued before every attendance.
Continuity
One point of contact from enquiry to delivery. Data is processed in-house and is never passed to a third-party bureau.
Certainty
A fixed written quotation against an agreed deliverable. No day rates and no variation after the event.
Questions
Do you do thermal or infrared inspection?
No. That needs a radiometric thermal camera and finds faults — hot cells, diode failures, string problems — that do not show up in visual imagery at all. We would rather tell you that plainly than take the job. If thermal is what you need, a thermal specialist is who you need.
Will this tell me why the array is underperforming?
It will tell you whether the cause is visible — soiling, damage, shading, a missing module. If everything looks sound and output is still down, the fault is electrical, and that is an installer's or a thermal survey's job.
Can you survey a ground-mounted farm?
Yes. A large array is a mapping-style flight and comes back as an overhead image of the whole site plus detail on anything of note.
Do you need to go on the roof?
No. Everything is captured from the air at a standoff, so nobody works at height and nothing needs scaffolding, a tower or a MEWP.
What happens if the weather is wrong on the day?
We move it. Wind and rain make for unsafe flying and soft, unusable pictures, and a survey you cannot rely on is worse than no survey. We watch the forecast and give you as much notice as we can.
Tell us about the site and we will take it from there
A site postcode and a sentence about what you need is enough to get started.
Get in touch
Provide a site postcode or boundary and a short description of the required output. We will confirm the deliverables, level of detail.
- A site postcode is sufficient to price most instructions
- Written quotation, in most cases the same working day
- Deliverables and formats agreed at instruction
info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk
Stamford, Lincolnshire