ZenaTech, Inc., a technology solution provider specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drone, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, announces that its Drone as a Service business has entered the solar surveying market with two contract awards totaling more than $110,000 for solar school campus and municipal projects. A third project valued at about $60,000 is expected to be awarded within 90 days, and management expects the client to generate roughly $150,000 in revenue per quarter, or about $600,000 over the next 12 months.
“Solar developers can’t design a single array until they have precise site data, and that first survey is where drones change the economics,” said Shaun Passley, Ph.D., ZenaTech CEO. “With static LiDAR, every hour a crew spends in the field generates five to seven hours of data analysis office work. A drone covers five times the area in that same hour and combined with AI processing, the value multiplies on every project. These awards put us in front of solar developers at the very start of a project, and we see a clear path to recurring inspection work over the life of each installation.”
The contracts cover as-built surveys of school parking lots where solar canopies will be built over parking stalls, giving each campus shade and weather protection while it generates its own power. ZenaTech’s survey team delivers the finished survey to the client’s design team, which uses it to lay out the solar arrays. Field data capture is complete at the first six school sites, which are now in processing, and work at a second campus is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks. Site surveys are the first step in solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), a U.S. market that The Business Research Company values at $79 billion in 2025 and projects will reach $101 billion by 2030.
The projects also demonstrate the logical replacement of static LiDAR with drone surveying on large sites. In many states, solar projects at larger facilities must pass state architect review, which weighs how a project affects the entire campus beyond the parking area being built out. Static LiDAR scanners must be reset roughly every 70 feet, which makes campus-wide coverage expensive. Management believes a drone can capture a full 10-acre campus in the same time a static scan takes for a 2-acre parking lot, or less. ZenaTech is running a proof of concept on three of the sites, two of them complete, comparing drone-captured campus data with static scans of the project limits.
ZenaTech’s approach to surveying for solar infrastructure construction combines licensed surveying expertise, drone-based data capture and centralized AI data processing within its DaaS network. Drones capture dense topographic measurements to support site planning and construction, while surveyors establish ground control points and verify accuracy. The Company’s proprietary AI software suite, with formal testing across the DaaS network planned for 2027, is designed to classify millions of 3D measurements and extract features needed for survey deliverables. By reducing routine field measurements and automating portions of data processing, ZenaTech expects to shorten survey turnaround times, lower labor costs per project and increase existing crews’ capacity to take on additional assignments, while helping solar project developers advance construction planning and reduce the potential costs of delays.
Once panels are installed, the opportunity shifts from a one-time survey to recurring service. Solar clients are already asking about drone inspections that use infrared imaging to find micro-fractures and overheating panels, along with panel cleaning. ZenaTech plans to offer this work with its IQ Square outdoor inspections and maintenance drone. According to Credence Research, the global drone solar inspection market was valued at about $1.02 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach about $3.22 billion by 2032, growing 14.4 per cent per year.
ZenaTech’s Drone as a Service platform provides business and government customers with subscription-based drone services using its own ZenaDrone product platforms, for a host of surveying, inspections, maintenance, power washing, and precision agriculture solutions, eliminating the need for customers to own, operate and maintain commercial-grade drone fleets. Through the acquisition of established, profitable but under-digitized service businesses, ZenaTech is building a scalable global DaaS network and AI autonomy platform, with recurring revenue and an existing customer base, while integrating advanced drone technologies to deliver greater speed, precision, safety, and data-driven insights. The Company’s Drone as a Service global geographic footprint currently consists of almost 45 locations, including in 14 U.S. States, Canada, Europe, UAE and Australia.
