KIC InnoEnergy: ProDrone receives award for its innovation in renewables

The KIC InnoEnergy-supported startup Pro-Drone has been chosen by Enel Green Power as one of the seven winners of the Innovation Competition launched in 2015.

The evaluation comittees have announced the winners of the competition, which consisted of solving five technical challenges in the field of renewable energy through innovative ideas. Pro-Drone has been awarded in the category “Use of drones/satellites in E&C/O&M activities”.

The winners have been selected out of 130 proposals received, getting a prize of EUR 10,000 each. On this occasion, Pro-Drone proposed an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that provides a solution for blade inspection of wind turbines which includes space awareness sensors.

According to the organisers, Pro-Drone was declared the winner because: “Typically, full blade inspection requires 12 minutes while the expected LCOE reduction is about 0,12%, if these UAVs are used for O&M supervising activities”. They also supported the decision by saying that Pro-Drone´s proposal had “experience in the sector, high technical feasibility, applicability to EGP business and accuracy of economic analysis”.