News on October 22: China Petroleum’s first floating solar project has generated more than 120 million kWh of electricity. The project uses a combined operation and maintenance model involving manual inspections and drone inspections. Drones equipped with LiDAR are used for point-cloud modeling and automated inspections, supporting the stable operation of the floating solar facility.

The news highlights both the project’s power generation and how floating solar facilities are inspected as part of routine operations. Point-cloud modeling provides a spatial information base for inspections, while automated inspections help carry out recurring inspection tasks. The value of combining the two lies in supporting equipment condition checks and subsequent action by personnel.

In a model combining manual and drone inspections, it is important to consider how inspection findings are followed up with on-site verification and maintenance. If information collected by drones can be effectively used to identify anomalies, schedule follow-up checks, and track the results of corrective actions, smart O&M could further improve coordination between inspections and maintenance. Its actual effectiveness still needs to be assessed based on issues identified during operation, response efficiency, and O&M investment.

Generation exceeding 120 million kWh reflects the project’s power generation results. However, this figure alone is not sufficient to infer its generation efficiency or economic returns, or to quantify the contribution of smart O&M to power generation. Further disclosures of specific inspection outcomes and operational performance would help assess the value of applying this O&M model to floating solar projects.