Drone Solar Project Monitoring — Track Every Site Milestone Accurately
±5cm
Ground sampling distance
48hr
Report turnaround
500K+
Safe Drone Flights
100%
DGCA compliant flights
PAN-India
Deployment Ready
The service
What is Drone Solar Project Progress Monitoring?
Drone solar project progress monitoring is a structured aerial data collection and reporting service designed for active solar construction sites. At defined milestones or on a weekly or fortnightly schedule. DGCA-certified drone pilots fly over the project site using high-resolution RGB cameras, capturing overlapping aerial imagery across the full site footprint. These images are processed through photogrammetry software to generate georeferenced orthomosaic maps: scaled, spatially accurate aerial mosaics documenting the precise state of construction at each reporting date.
The outputs go well beyond photography. Solar EPC progress tracking using drone data includes digital surface models, point cloud surveys of site structures, volumetric calculations for earthwork progress, and planned-versus-actual overlay maps comparing the current construction state against the approved baseline. Module stringing progress, cable trench mapping, inverter block commissioning status, and pile foundation coverage are all captured in a single site mobilisation.
For IPPs and project developers, every lender reporting package, MNRE milestone submission, and internal progress review is backed by independently verified, spatially accurate data not a foreman’s estimate.
Process
How does drone solar project progress monitoring work?
Site mobilisation and baseline capture
Before active construction begins or at the first monitoring milestone. our pilots conduct an initial survey flight to establish a georeferenced baseline of the site. This baseline becomes the reference layer against which all subsequent progress is measured, giving you a precise, undisputed starting record for every reporting cycle.
Flight planning and airspace coordination
Our operations team plans each mission around the site's topography, area, and the data resolution your reporting requires. Where applicable, we coordinate with local airspace authorities in line with DGCA regulations, ensuring every flight is legally compliant, fully logged, and insured under our commercial aviation liability policy.
High-resolution data capture
Equipped with RGB and optional multispectral sensors, our DGCA-certified remote pilots execute systematic grid flights across the site, capturing overlapping imagery at ±5cm ground sampling distance. Sites of 200MW and above are covered in a single mobilisation day.
Photogrammetric processing and orthomosaic generation
Captured imagery is processed through professional-grade photogrammetry software, producing georeferenced orthomosaic maps, 3D point clouds, and digital surface models. This step converts raw aerial photographs into precise, measurable spatial data ready for engineering review.
Progress comparison and anomaly annotation
The processed data is overlaid against the project's approved baseline layout. Our analysts annotate deviations, construction lags, and anomalies. Incomplete cable trenches, unfinished module rows, earthwork discrepancies with GPS-tagged markers and percentage completion figures by zone.
Report delivery within 48 hours
The complete progress report orthomosaic, comparison overlays, annotated findings, and zone-wise completion breakdown is delivered within 48 hours of the flight. Reports are formatted directly for lender reporting packages, SECI and MNRE milestone submissions, and internal EPC review meetings.
Business impact
Key benefits for solar EPC contractors and project developers
Remote visibility across every site in your portfolio
Managing solar construction across multiple states means a project director can realistically visit each location only a handful of times during the build cycle. Drone solar site monitoring delivers georeferenced aerial data to your desk on schedule. A project team monitoring five sites across Rajasthan and Gujarat simultaneously can compare progress status across all locations from a single report set. No travel required, no data gap.
Accurate milestone documentation for lender reporting
Lenders and equity investors increasingly require independently verified, timestamped construction evidence before releasing tranche payments. Aerial solar project inspection data georeferenced orthomosaic maps and planned-versus-actual overlays. Satisfies this requirement directly. Projects using drone monitoring in their lender reporting cycle have reduced documentary back-and-forth by as much as 60%, removing a common bottleneck that delays disbursement by weeks.
Early detection of construction delays before they compound
A 15-day lag in pile-driving caught at the two-week mark is correctable. Identified at the six-week mark, it puts an MNRE or SECI project deadline at risk. Solar construction progress monitoring through regular drone surveys delivers an objective, repeatable record of what has actually been completed versus what the programme assumes giving site managers the warning they need to reallocate resources before penalties apply.
Dispute resolution backed by georeferenced visual evidence
EPC and client disagreements over completion percentages are among the most time-consuming disputes in solar project delivery. A contractor’s sign-off and an independent drone survey can differ by 15–20% on module stringing or earthwork completion. When Lesoko’s progress reports form part of the project’s standard documentation protocol, both parties work from the same spatially verified baseline. Reducing formal dispute resolution from weeks to days.
Verified data for MNRE and SECI project delivery compliance
MNRE and SECI project deadlines carry penalty clauses that can materially affect project economics. Solar EPC milestone tracking through regular drone surveys creates a verified timeline of construction activity useful both for demonstrating active progress during extension applications and for identifying the specific stages where delays originated. This documented timeline has supported formal deadline extension applications for multiple utility-scale solar projects across India.
What you receive
Deliverables from every drone solar survey
- Georeferenced orthomosaic map of the full project site at each milestone or survey cycle
- GPS-tagged, timestamped aerial photographs for investor and lender reporting packages
- Digital surface model (DSM) of the site at each reporting stage
- Volumetric analysis of earthwork cut-and-fill, levelling progress, and embankment status
- Cable trench mapping overlay against approved site layout plan
- Cable trench mapping overlay against approved site layout plan
- AutoCAD-compatible and GIS-ready spatial exports (.tiff, .shp, .dxf)
- Planned-versus-actual progress overlay with percentage completion by construction zone
- Milestone progress report in PDF with construction anomalies and lag areas annotated
- 3D point cloud model of site structures (optional add-on)
- Module stringing completion map — installed versus pending rows by inverter block
- Inverter block and switchgear bay status report with supporting aerial imagery
- Milestone-wise summary for MNRE, SECI, lender, and internal project management review
Drone Monitoring in Action:
Three Project Scenarios
How solar EPCs, IPPs, and lenders have used Lesoko drone monitoring to protect capital, catch deviations early, and accelerate documentation cycles.
A project owner’s drone solar project monitoring report identified module installation in Zones C and D — claimed at 65% complete by the EPC contractor for that billing period — was in fact 41% completion when measured against the flight’s orthomosaic.
Weekly aerial monitoring identified pile misalignment in a 12-acre section during Week 3 of structural installation. GPS coordinates and deviation magnitudes were included in the drone data report from the as-built survey overlay.
An IPP with a 200 MW solar project in Andhra Pradesh used bi-weekly drone monitoring reports as primary construction progress evidence for four consecutive lender drawdown tranches, with the project’s independent engineer accepting geo-referenced aerial reports.
Drone Monitoring in Action — Real Projects Across India
Every image below is captured from an actual Lesoko drone flight. This is what your project reports look like.
Hourly updates
Hourly updates
Hourly updates
Hourly updates
Weekly and monthly reports
Weekly and monthly reports
Weekly and monthly reports
Weekly and monthly reports
Why Lesoko
Five things that differentiate our service
DGCA Remote Pilot Certificate accreditation on every engagement
Lesoko holds DGCA RPC accreditation under India's Drone Rules 2021. Our pilots are trained aerial survey specialists with direct experience across utility-scale solar construction sites, wind farm inspections, and linear infrastructure projects not equipment operators hired for a day.
In-house pan-India pilot network. No sub-contracting
We deploy to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu using in-house teams. Every pilot, every flight, and every deliverable is managed under Lesoko's direct quality control, with deployment to most states within five working days.
48-hour report delivery
Drone survey solar farm reports and progress overlays are delivered within 48 hours of the survey flight. All spatial deliverables are produced in AutoCAD-compatible and GIS-ready formats that integrate directly with your engineering and design team's existing workflows.
Formal NDA as standard on every project engagement
All project data, site imagery, layout files, and client documentation are covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement as a contractual default not an optional add-on. Your site coordinates, construction progress data, and project commercial information remain confidential.
Proven across solar IPPs, wind developers, and infrastructure clients
Our clients include major solar and wind IPPs operating across India, Southern Railways, and infrastructure developers with active SECI and MNRE project portfolios. We understand EPC milestone schedules, lender reporting formats, and MNRE compliance requirements not just aerial photography.
Drone-Based Solar Project Progress Monitoring
Trusted By Industry leaders
Our coverage across India
From utility-scale ground-mount parks in western India to rooftop and distributed solar projects in the south, east, and northeast. Lesoko's in-house teams are deployed pan-India with no third-party sub-contracting.
Pan-India deployment
Whether your solar project is in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, or any other state — our ground teams are ready. We cover utility-scale, ground-mount, rooftop, agri-solar, canal-top, and hybrid wind-solar projects across all 28 states and 8 union territories.
In-house teams, zero sub-contracting
Every drone inspection and solar project progress monitoring deployment is executed by Lesoko's own trained pilots and analysts not outsourced partners. This means consistent data quality, faster turnaround, and direct accountability on every project, regardless of location.
Built for India's solar development scale
We work across SECI tenders, state DISCOM procurement programmes, IPP-led projects, and MNRE-aligned renewable energy zones. Our monitoring workflows are designed for the pace and complexity of India's national solar mission from pilot deployment to full portfolio scale.
States served
Lesoko provides drone-based solar project monitoring services across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, and all other major solar development states and union territories in India.
Need verified progress reports without visiting your site every fortnight?
Phone/ Whatsapp
+91 78457 26375
Email Us
sales@lesoko.in
Head Office
Request Monitoring Quote
Frequently Asked Questions
Drone solar project monitoring is an aerial data collection and reporting service in which DGCA-certified drones fly over an active solar construction site at defined intervals or milestones. Captured imagery is processed into georeferenced orthomosaic maps, planned-versus-actual overlays, and milestone progress reports giving EPC contractors, developers, and IPPs a spatially verified, independently produced record of construction status at every reporting stage.
For active utility-scale projects, a fortnightly cadence aligns with most lender reporting cycles and EPC milestone payment schedules. Projects under tight MNRE or SECI deadlines, or where construction disputes are active, benefit from weekly surveys. Slower-moving distributed sites are typically monitored monthly. Lesoko will recommend a frequency based on your project’s construction programme and reporting obligations.
Pricing depends on site area, survey frequency, and deliverable scope. A single survey of a 50MW ground-mount project depending on deliverable requirements. Recurring milestone-based monitoring packages across a project’s full construction period are significantly more cost-effective than ad hoc engagements. Contact Lesoko for a site-specific quote based on your project’s hectarage and schedule.
After each flight, the processed orthomosaic is overlaid against the project’s approved layout to calculate actual completion percentages by construction zone covering earthwork, pile installation, module stringing, cable trenching, and inverter commissioning. This replaces estimated progress reports with spatially verified data that both the EPC contractor and the project developer can rely on for billing, milestone payments, and lender submissions.
Standard deliverables include a georeferenced orthomosaic map, a planned-versus-actual progress overlay with zone-wise completion percentages, GPS-tagged and timestamped aerial photographs, a milestone progress report in PDF, and a digital surface model. Optional add-ons include 3D point cloud models and volumetric earthwork analysis. All reports are delivered within 48 hours of the survey flight in GIS-compatible formats.
Yes. Under India’s Drone Rules 2021, all commercial drone operations require the Remote Pilot to hold a valid DGCA Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) and the drone to carry a UIN. Operating without this certification is a legal violation and may expose the project owner to regulatory liability. All Lesoko pilots hold current DGCA RPC accreditation for every commercial engagement.
Regular aerial surveys produce an objective, timestamped construction record. When a survey identifies lag — incomplete pile foundations in a specific block, unfinished cable trenching across a zone — the contractor can act within days rather than discovering the shortfall when an MNRE or SECI deadline is already at risk. The verified progress timeline also supports formal deadline extension applications where required.
A traditional inspection involves an engineer manually covering a site over multiple days, recording observations that vary by individual and cannot be spatially compared against a previous visit. A drone survey covers a 200-hectare site in a single day and produces repeatable, georeferenced data directly comparable against any previous survey date. The cost is typically lower than the full mobilisation cost of a manual inspection team for a large-format ground-mount project.