Drone technologies, which have turned into a market of 30 million dollars in Turkey, have turned into robots used in many industrial areas from construction, agriculture, security, logistics and maintenance of power plants. Mustafa Can Gül, Corporate Member of the Turkish Wind Energy Association, Founder and CEO of DroneCARE, said, “Previously, a team of 3 people could only control one turbine in a day, but thanks to drone technologies, a team of 2 people completes the control of 8 turbines per day. Speed is very important. Because, a wind turbine with a power of 1,5 MW can produce 25 kWh of electricity annually with an average capacity factor of 3.285.000 percent. In other words, depending on the site conditions, there may be a loss of efficiency of at least 5500 USD if a wind turbine is interrupted for only one day.” said.
While drone technologies eliminate possible work accidents, by performing inspections and operations many times faster than traditional methods; It also increases productivity. Stating that drone technologies used in the industrial field have a market of 12 billion dollars worldwide, Turkish Wind Energy Association Corporate Member, Founder and CEO of DroneCARE, Mustafa Can Gül, said that with an annual average growth rate of 2027-10 percent until 12, it is about 45 billion dollars globally. He said it is expected to rise. Stating that there are around 25 thousand drones, mostly for civilian purposes, in Turkey, Gül said that the market in Turkey is around 30 million dollars.
“Turkey's wind turbine capacity has reached 10 GW”
Energy Markets Management Inc. According to EPİAŞ data; The total number of wind turbines in Turkey is around 3600 and the total power of the power plants has reached 11.101,82 Mwh. This figure corresponds to 12 percent of Turkey's total energy production. Pointing out that the strategic importance of diversifying our energy resources and keeping them productive has been understood much better recently, not only in our country, but also around the world, Gül said, “The wind turbine capacity in Turkey has reached 10 GW, which corresponds to approximately 4 turbines. The blades of wind turbines work 7/24, and there is constant damage in this process. What are these damages? Lightning falls, sometimes birds strike, there may be some structural damage from working too hard, and sometimes we even find lead from opened fires. Thanks to drone technologies, the damages are detected in a timely manner and the turbine blades are kept in working condition.” said.
“It costs $5.500 to stop a wind turbine for one day.”
Noting that before the drone technology, maintenance and repairs of wind turbines were done by climbing the tower with an elevator and accessing it with a rope, Mustafa Can Gül said, “A team of 3 people could only control one turbine in a day. Now, thanks to drone technologies, we can either autonomously or manually lift a drone in the field and finish a turbine within an hour. A team of 2 people completes the control of 8 turbines per day. Speed is very important. Because, a wind turbine with a power of 1,5 MW can produce 25 kWh of electricity annually with an average capacity factor of 3.285.000 percent. In other words, depending on the site conditions, there may be a loss of efficiency of at least 5500 USD if a wind turbine is interrupted for only one day.” he said.
“We can perform maintenance 10 times faster in solar power plants”
“There is also a need for the use of drone technologies in solar power plants. In fact, we can perform maintenance 10 times faster in solar power plants compared to wind, and we can collect more reliable data.” Gül continued: “It is necessary to think of drone technologies as a platform. We don't just fly drones, we add software and sensors to it, make it more equipped and make it suitable for industrial use.”
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