Automated photovoltaic plant inspection system and method

A system for automatically inspecting photovoltaic installations of a facility for generating electricity comprising:

• a processor for receiving thermographic images of the photovoltaic installation, said photovoltaic installation comprising at least one array formed of a plurality of photovoltaic modules, wherein each module comprises a plurality of photovoltaic cells;
• a database comprising identification data for each module of the photovoltaic installation;
• wherein the processor is configured for:
• identifying each photovoltaic module in the acquired thermographic images of the photovoltaic installation
• processing each image of the acquired thermographic images, wherein processing each image comprises:
• executing at least one accommodation algorithm on the image, wherein said accommodation algorithm comprises:
• executing the accommodation algorithm with each of a plurality of accommodation algorithm parameters to generate a set of accommodated images corresponding to the image;
• and
• converting each accommodated image to a binary image to produce a set of binary images;
• wherein processing each image further comprises:
• executing an edge detection algorithm on each binary image of the set of binary images to generate a set of edges associated with each of the plurality of accommodation algorithm parameters;
• filtering non-trapezoidal shapes from the converted binary image;
• calculating an average temperature of the at least one array;
• and
• determining a fault condition of at least one cell as a function of a difference between a temperature of the at least one cell and the average temperature of the array.