Tell your state leaders to support and incentivize solar-installing robots!
U.S. startup Luminous Robotics has successfully trialed its Lumi S4 solar installation robots at the building of ENGIE’s 500,000-panel 250 MW Goorambat East Solar Farm in Victoria, Australia, which will power up to 105,000 homes. The AI-enabled robots can autonomously place solar panels onto rack supports, while human workers do final securing.
“The intended higher productivity of these autonomous systems will reduce the cost of renewable energy projects and enable projects to be built in less time – which will bring down energy costs for consumers and potentially allow more solar farms to be built.”
— Justin Webb of ENGIE
This is just one example of the fast-emerging potential of robotics to accelerate solar build-outs! Major renewables developer AES has developed Maximo, another AI-enabled solar-installing robot, which they claim can reduce solar installation timelines and costs by up to 50%.
The 1 GW Bellefield solar farm in California is already being built with the help of a Maximo fleet, minimizing the exposure of human work crews to extreme heat.
Plans are underway for Maximo bots to work on building 5 GW more of solar capacity across America in the next three years, reducing costs at a time of high inflation.
Solar-installation robots are also becoming common in China, with fast-growing product lines including the Buildex robots from Trinasolar and the Leapting robots from Huzhou. They’re already being deployed around the world, from the Middle East to Inner Mongolia. Solar-cleaning bots and inspection drones are also proliferating.
This is an amazing new opportunity to help make our epic transition to an abundant clean electricity-powered civilization happen even faster! U.S. state leaders can help by proactively creating supportive tax, regulatory, and permitting structures to allow and incentivize the development and deployment of solar-installation robots.
Tell your state leaders to support and incentivize solar-installing robots!