Estimating Potential Solar Energy on Rooftops using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) also commonly referred to as drones has found its application in many field of engineering, infrastructure and also the built environment in the recent past. With the use of drones being used for commercial purposes increasing there is a lot of emphasis of how to use these drones for as many applications as possible. This paper highlights the use of drones for mapping large scale rooftop areas to assess solar energy system installation potential. The results show that the drone technology is advantageous compared to the conventional manual survey method in terms of cost, time and resources required when used for large scale areas.