Regular inspections of onshore and offshore wind turbines are a legal requirement – but they also ensure the longevity of machinery by helping to identify and repair any damage.

Austrian firm Aero Enterprise has revolutionised the way these inspections are carried out with its self-developed helicopter drones – known as AERO SensorCopter® – as well as professional consumer drones to deliver inspections in a fraction of the time that it takes a human.

The company’s founder, Robert Hörmann, is a former German Air Force helicopter pilot and first had the idea of using drones for inspections in 2010.

“Robert is quite a visionary type and he was always interested in the wind sector,” said Peter Kurt Fromme-Knoch, CEO and co-founder of Aero Enterprise. “We have really been one of the first to introduce this new method of inspection to the wind sector.”

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Robert founded the sole proprietorship, then named Aerodyne Systems, in 2013 and received an innovation award for his idea. In August 2015, the company secured investment and changed its name to Aero Enterprise. A month later, it exhibited its flight robot prototype for the first time at HUSUM Wind, an international wind energy trade fair in Germany, and completed the prototype of SensorCopter® Mod. II in the same year.

“We were treated like aliens when we presented our first helicopter at HUSUM Wind,” said Peter. “I think there were only one or two competitors with different UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) at that time.”

Aero Enterprise has since established itself as a leader in the sector – not only with the development of its SensorCopter®, but also with its AERO-Software Package, which can produce in-depth inspection reports for clients.

“From the beginning, the company has been developing its own hardware and software,” said Peter. “In the past two years, we have focused more on the software than on the hardware, because we recognise that the customer is really interested in getting a good interpretation of the results, with high-quality and state-of-the-art reports.”

Peter explains that removing the human element of inspections delivers many benefits for clients.

“The most important thing is when you do a drone inspection, it’s a totally objective method. It’s not influenced by humans,” he said.

“The drone sees every damage, even the smallest damage,” he added. “We take about 300 images of the turbine. We inspect rotor blades; we can inspect the tower. In the offshore business, we can inspect the transition pieces and stuff like that.

“That means if you do another inspection in two years or four years, you can compare it to pictures of the last inspection and build up a picture for the future. You can make better decisions and say, ‘Okay, this damage was also here two years ago. Now it’s a little bit bigger, how will it be in two years? Does it have to be repaired immediately or in the next six months?’”

Another benefit to drone inspections is the time it saves compared to human inspections. “The procedure is much quicker,” said Peter. “Normally, if you’re working with climbers, you have to stop the turbine for at least half a day. The drone inspection doesn’t usually take longer than one hour, which means the downtime of the turbine is much shorter.”

It is also a safer and less labour-intensive option for clients, Peter adds. “Especially in the offshore sector, inspections are much more dangerous for the client – they often have to be done in harsh weather conditions, you need much more effort to get to the site, and you need three people to do the job. You need two people to do the inspection and one person to watch for safety reasons.”

Through its partner program, which was launched in 2018, Aero Enterprise is working with a number of partners across Europe as it looks to make headway in the European market – especially the UK.

“The UK is very important for us because it is the biggest offshore market in Europe – and the biggest in the world outside China,” said Peter. “Our offshore SensorCopter® is specially designed for harsh weather conditions – like in the North Sea and Irish Sea – so it is a key market for us. We are also interested in the onshore market in Scotland, which is well known for very high wind speeds.”

Since July 2020, Aero Enterprise has been part of the Buss Energy Group, which specialises in the assembly, maintenance and repair of wind turbines. “They became a shareholder in Aero Enterprise, which has given us direct access to the European onshore and offshore markets,” said Peter. “At the moment we are doing a campaign for a German manufacturer, which is around 650 turbines all over Germany – so it’s a very good partnership for us.”

For more information, visit aero-enterprise.com or email office@aero-enterprise.com