Thermographic FAQ's
General Questions
What is a Thermographic report?
A thermographic report provides analysis of aerial infrared (thermal) and RGB imagery captured over your solar plant. It identifies anomalies such as hotspots, string faults, and module defects, helping you optimise performance, reduce downtime, and plan maintenance.
Who typically uses these reports?
Reports are commonly shared between asset owners, O&M contractors, EPCs, and technical advisors. Each role can use the insights differently — from prioritising maintenance to validating warranty claims.
How often will I get Thermographic reports?
Frequency depends on your survey agreement (annual, quarterly, or ad-hoc). Some customers request additional reports after major weather events or construction phases.
How do I know when a report has been published?
You will either see it it in the reports section and/or receive an email that it has been published. You can adjust your preferences to receive report notifications. This video shows how:
Permissions & Sharing
Can I share the report with other organisations?
If you are the commissioning organisation, you can grant access to additional "interest" organisations when commissioning the report, ensuring everyone works from the same report. Reports are shared at an organisation level, not directly with individuals.
How does sharing work?
- Only Commissioning organisations of this report can share with other interest organisations.
- Commissioning: The organisation raising the invoice for this survey
- Interest: Organisations that are linked to the solar farm, but may not have access to all reports. They will need to be shared each report individually.
- To add an interested organisation, you need to go to the Admin Centre.
What are the different permission levels?
The permissions levels are:
- Editor (Commissioner): Everything the Editor can do and share report
- Editor: Everything View-only can do plus: Edit and resolve anomalies
- View-only: View report, add to tasks, export (Zip, Excel, CSV)
- No access: There might be an interest organisation linked to solar plant but not that report
This video provides further information about sharing Thermographic reports:
How can I check if my O&M/contractor has rectified items since the previous report?
The survey compare tool is helpful in tracking the evolution of anomalies across the years. This video explains more.
Navigation & Interface
How do I access the Thermographic page?
To access the Thermographic reports, there are 3 pages that will list the reports:
- Portfolio dashboard: Latest reports section
- On the Portfolio Dashboard, scroll down to the Latest Reports section
- There is a column that displays report type, and any Thermographic reports will show up
- To access the solar plant landing page, click on the link under Solar plant column. To jump to the specific report, click on the link "Report published" under the Survey status column
- Solar plant landing page: Reports section
- Click "View All" at the top of the section will lead to the Reports page
- Reports page listed in left menu so can be accessed there
What are the main sections of the Thermographic page?
- Dashboard: This displays a customised technical summary and key anomaly information with charts
- Map: Displays a map with corresponding anomalies
- List: Displays a list view with all anomalies
- Documents: Lists any marketing images taken at time of flight for use in your reporting
Is there a glossary that clarifies certain terminology in the reports?
Yes, you can find it on the Glossary page.
How do I find specific anomalies in the report?
You can navigate using the interactive site map, zoom into affected areas, or search/filter (Advanced filter) by anomaly type or severity.
This video demonstrates how to find specific anomalies:
Can I view both thermal and RGB images side by side?
Yes, the platform allows toggling between thermal and RGB imagery for each anomaly, helping confirm the exact nature and location of the issue.
Is there a way to export images or data?
Yes, you can export defect images, maps, or CSV data for use in external systems or reports.
Where can I find images of the entire solar plant?
Typically, when a Thermographic inspection is done, the drone pilot will take images of the entire site from overhead. This can be downloaded from the Documents tab and used for reports or marketing.
Can I view reports on mobile devices?
The thermographic reports are not available on SolarGain mobile. It was decided to remove Thermographic reports from the app as it was not fit for purpose. The Thermographic reports can be viewed on small laptops and tablets as the portal is built to be responsive.
Our app is designed for people who are working on site who want to collect inspection data and images, work on tasks and scan serial numbers for modules and other components.
Features & Functionality
How are anomalies classified in the system?
Anomalies are categorised by anomaly type and root cause, allowing you to prioritise maintenance effectively.
Can I filter by severity to see the most urgent issues?
Yes. Reports include filtering tools so you can view high-priority anomalies first. By using the Advanced filter and sorting tools, you can find the most urgent issues with ease.
Can I download a summary report?
Yes. You can generate a PDF or CSV summary that includes key statistics, defect counts, and locations.
Can I create a customised report with both anomalies and site visual evidence?
Yes. Start by using the Advanced filter for anomalies in the Thermographic report and adding them to a Task List. Then use a search to add visual evidence from the Observations page, adding it to the same Task List. Then, export that Task List as a PDF. This video shows it step by step:
Can I integrate the report data into my own asset management system?
Yes, data exports are provided in standard formats (CSV, Excel and JPEG images) for easy integration.
Troubleshooting
Why am I not seeing the latest report?
There are 2 reasons why you might not see the latest report:
- If you are not the commissioning organisation, it might not have been shared with you yet
- The report has not been published
The report map isn’t loading — what should I check?
Try refreshing the page, clearing your cache, or switching browsers. If the issue persists, contact support with details of your system/browser version.
Best Practice
How can I get the most out of the Thermographic reports?
Take time to understand the information and tools Above provides. Here is an example on how to maximise the Thermographic report by:
- Reviewing the technical summary
- Use the Advanced filter to narrow down each search in the List tab based on the anomalies presented in the summary
- Bulk add the anomalies to the Task List from the List tab
- From here, actions can be taken to address these anomalies. The Advanced filter at the top of the report could be used to create Task Lists from this summary. For example, taking the first line, "Heated modules - String heating NIC":
Key points:
- The Advanced filter retains the filter on all tabs for this report.
- The "Technical summary and analysis" section remains the same, but all charts, maps and lists will retain the filter, until the filter is cleared.
- The Advanced filter button is green with no filter and white with filter applied. Click the X to clear the filter.
Typically, the List tab will be used to create the Task List.
- To select all rows returned by the Advanced filter, "Select all" and then "Add to tasks"
- For more information about using Tasks, click here to see all relevant pages
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