Renewable energy consultancy Natural Power has invested in the latest aerial imaging surveyor, a Trimble UX5.

Always striving to stay ahead of the technological curve, Natural Power has invested in the latest aerial imaging surveyor. The Trimble UX5 has just been deployed from a windswept hillside overlooking the Isle of Arran, Scotland, as part of its first commercial deployment.

Gavin Germaine, Natural Powers Senior Geotechnical Engineer, said: "Normally, pre-construction and planning phase projects require topographic survey data to assist with project design and optimisation. Deploying teams on foot to collect this data is time consuming, and can therefore impact upon budgets and programme, whilst precision can be limited by the low density of data collection, and multiple re-deployments may be required to meet the requirements of an iterative design process. Our new drone equipment enables full site coverage to be achieved in a very short time, thus reducing costs, impact and exposure of personnel to the hazards of the natural working environment."

Sub-zero temperatures and strong winds were no deterrent for the aerial imaging surveyors first mission, with the survey team flying up to 100m above the ground, at speeds in excess of 90km/hr. Over the course of a single day, full coverage of a project site (5km2) was achieved. A variety of data streams were acquired including high-resolution aerial imagery and high accuracy 3D topographic data.

Data from the new aerial imaging surveyor will be integrated with traditional ground-based surveys, and further augments Natural Powers land based GPS survey capability by providing highly efficient provision of data, precision survey grade accuracy, 3D terrain models and high resolution imagery.

The dedicated and trained flight operators are supported by Natural Powers remote operations expertise, having proven the technology across a variety of project sites throughout the UK. Not only does this new resource provide wider opportunities for front end, engineering design and optimisation to fully realise the potential of new projects, it can also monitor live construction progress as well as environmental variables, and help to identify issues rapidly, particularly in the case of inaccessible project sites.

Whilst the system has been focussed on large wind and tidal renewable energy projects to date, it is ideally suited to any type of large or small scale project development. To find out more contact Rachel Precious in the Natural Power geotechnical team rachelp@naturalpower.com

ENDS

About Natural Power

Established in the mid 1990s, Natural Power is a leading independent renewable energy consultancy and products provider. The company offers proactive and integrated consultancy, management and due diligence services, backed by an innovative product range, across the onshore wind, offshore wind, wave, tidal, renewable heat, solar pv and hydro sectors, whilst maintaining a strong outlook on other new and emerging renewable energy sectors.

Natural Power has been at the heart of many groundbreaking projects, products and portfolios for more than two decades, assisting project developers, investors, manufacturers, research houses and other consulting companies. With its iconic Scottish headquarters, The Green House, Natural Power has expanded internationally to work in 32 countries, and now employs over 320 renewable energy experts. This project experience spans a portfolio of 69GW which is equivalent to powering 4.7m UK homes.

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