Copernicus for Solar - Detecting Decentralised Generation PV Construction Progress
Monitoring Construction Start and Progress of PV Plants
EDP is a Portuguese electric utility company headquartered in Lisbon. EDP manages a rapidly growing portfolio of renewable energy assets, including hundreds of solar power systems across Portugal and other markets. To ensure transparency, efficiency, and quality during construction, EDP needs to monitor the start and progress of new Decentralised Generation (DG) photovoltaic (PV) systems in near real-time. Traditionally, this requires manual inspections and field audits, which are resource-intensive and cannot consistently cover all projects. To address this, COTESA, a Spanish IT and consulting company, has demonstrated, through the implementation for a proof-of-concept (PoC) supported by EUSPA, a Copernicus-powered solution that automatically detects and tracks PV construction activity, helping EDP scale its auditing processes and optimize the deployment of its workforce.
EDP’s strong growth trajectory, with a portfolio of over 30 GW renewable installed capacity by the first half of 2025, requires efficient oversight of new solar PV projects. Currently, DG construction audits are heavily dependent on sending personnel to sites, often based on contractor-reported timelines. With limited resources, it is challenging to systematically verify whether construction starts on time or progresses as planned across hundreds of distributed projects. This creates difficulties in ensuring contractual compliance, maintaining project quality, and aligning construction progress with EDP’s energy transition goals. Reliable, automated monitoring of PV construction will enable EDP to reduce costs, improve oversight, and focus field inspections where they are most needed.
Copernicus Data for PV Construction Monitoring
The PoC was implemented over a 15 km² test area with multiple PV installations constructed between 2022 and 2024. Using historical Copernicus Sentinel data, COTESA demonstrated the feasibility of automatically detecting construction start dates and tracking visible progress. Results confirmed that Sentinel-based monitoring is effective above a minimum project size threshold of 150m2 and that super-resolution techniques improve detection accuracy. The PoC also highlighted the operational trade-offs between Copernicus-only solutions and hybrid approaches enriched with VHR data. For EDP, the pilot provided a representative assessment of how satellite-based auditing can reduce dependence on manual inspections, improve project oversight, and ultimately accelerate renewable deployment.
The PoC has the potential to be implemented in future projects, offering a remote monitoring capability that aligns closely with our needs and the expectations of our partners. By reducing reliance on manual inspections, we can improve efficiency and ensure better project oversight throughout the construction phase.
Jorge Rodrigues
Service Delivery – Photovolt Mobility PT
About Copernicus Sentinel-2
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provides high-resolution, multi-spectral optical imagery that is particularly well suited for monitoring land cover changes and human activity. The two satellites provide a revisit time of 5 days and deliver consistent coverage that makes it possible to track developments such as the construction of photovoltaic (PV) installations. Its 13 spectral bands, ranging from visible to shortwave infrared, enable precise detection of surface changes by distinguishing between soil, vegetation, water, and man-made structures.
For PV monitoring, Sentinel-2 data has demonstrated to be valuable as it allows the detection of construction start and progress for sites larger than 150m2. By leveraging temporal stacks of imagery, combined with advanced change-detection techniques and AI models, users can derive actionable insights. Thanks to its free and open data policy, Sentinel-2 offers a scalable and cost-efficient foundation for operational monitoring services.
Looking ahead
Following the PoC, EDP and COTESA plan to explore extending the methodology to ongoing and future PV installations, moving from retrospective detection to near real-time monitoring. Further developments will refine the AI model, explore additional datasets, and evaluate integration into EDP’s asset management systems.
The results of this PoC demonstrate how Earth Observation can support not only PV construction monitoring, but also a wide range of other use cases across the energy sector. It’s a strong example of how innovation can unlock scalable, data-driven solutions for operational challenges.
Mário Simões
Innovation Delivery – EDP
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