Tucson runs on sun — and the same 350 days of it that power your array are quietly degrading it. A thermal drone flight checks every panel at load, finds the hot cells, dead strings, and wiring faults eating your production, and never touches the system. We've flown arrays from Oro Valley rooftops to Vail.
FAA Part 107 Certified · Fully Insured · LAANC Authorized · 5.0★ from 271 Google reviews
Desert Drones provides FAA Part 107–certified drone solar panel inspections in Tucson, AZ — radiometric thermal fault detection across residential rooftops, commercial arrays, and carport systems. Tucson-based pilots identify hot spots, dead strings, soiling losses, and wiring faults at panel level and deliver findings your solar contractor can act on.
Solar arrays are one of the asset types covered by our drone inspection services, alongside roofs, thermal surveys, and industrial facilities.
Every panel, at load, in one flight — the faults show up as heat.
Panel-level findings, not vibes — located, imaged, and prioritized.
Recent array inspections around the metro — east-side commercial rooftop and a southeast-side radiometric scan.
A commercial rooftop system on Tucson's east side, flown panel by panel — layout, condition, and soiling documented for the owner's O&M records.
TUCSON · COMMERCIAL
A southeast-metro array scanned at load with calibrated FLIR — every pixel carries a real temperature, so a warm panel is a measurement, not a guess. This is what fault detection actually looks like.
VAIL · THERMAL
Low, slow passes down every row — cracked glass, delamination, and connector issues visible at the panel, each finding paired IR + RGB for the repair crew.
TUCSON · DETAILWe inspect arrays across the Tucson metro — residential rooftops in an afternoon, commercial systems on an O&M schedule — with calibrated radiometric sensors and Tucson-based pilots.
One flight, panel-level truth — here's the path.
Size, mounting, and what prompted the check — production drop, storm, warranty deadline, or routine. We plan the flight for peak load.
Radiometric thermal + visible coverage of every panel, at load, without touching the system — LAANC pulled if the site is in controlled airspace.
Faults located to the panel, temperature-verified, and prioritized by production impact.
Annotated fault map and source files in days — ready for your solar contractor or O&M provider.
One of America's sunniest cities is also one of the hardest on solar equipment. That's the whole case for inspection.
Panels here cycle from cold desert nights to 105°+ afternoons, year after year. Connections loosen, cells crack, diodes fail — thermal finds it early.
Storm season soils arrays and occasionally strikes them. A post-monsoon flight documents damage for warranty and insurance while it's provable.
From TEP's programs to rooftop systems across Oro Valley, Marana, and Vail, Tucson's installed base keeps growing — and every system deserves a baseline it can be compared against.
Arrays under TUS Class C fly on LAANC authorization we pull in advance — Davis-Monthan's airspace planned around.
A solar inspection is only worth what its measurements are worth — calibrated thermal, flown at load, read by people who know arrays.
Solar clients often add these — same visit when it makes sense.
Residential systems typically run $200–$400; commercial arrays quote by size, usually $500–$1,500. Multi-site O&M programs get program pricing.
No — the opposite. Arrays are scanned at load because that's when faults show as heat.
That's the classic use case. Panel-level thermal locates the dead string, failing panel, or soiling problem behind a production drop.
Yes — visible + thermal imagery, timestamped, panel by panel. Fly it soon after the storm for the strongest documentation.
Annually for most commercial systems — and after any major hail event. Year-over-year comparison is where the value compounds.
FAA Part 107 certified and fully insured, with a certificate of insurance on request.
Rated 5.0★ from 271 verified Google reviews across our locations.
John and team are the consummate professionals! Very reliable, quick, and high quality deliverables!
Professional, efficient, and easy to work with. The team delivered clean, high-quality aerials and communicated clearly throughout the project.
Needed work done quickly for drone photography. They responded quickly, knew exactly what was required, and explained it well — great customer service.
John was a professional and very knowledgeable. He made the process of getting drone footage seamless and did an exceptional job.
Absolutely amazing experience with Desert Drones. They did a shoot for my business and made my product really speak for itself!
John is a true professional. Every time we need drone photography or videography done, he is excited to take on the project.
Tell us the system size and location — we'll schedule a load-hour flight, usually this week.
