Utility Scale

The race is on to build solar farms with robots

The race is on to build solar farms with robots
Sarcos has signed an agreement with engineering, procurement, and construction firm Blattner Company to develop and refine its own autonomous mobile robotic system for utility-scale solar construction. (Courtesy: Sarcos)

Technology companies are racing to market with autonomous robotics products aimed at streamlining utility-scale solar project construction.

Two companies, Terabase Energy and Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corp., have unveiled systems that they say will improve project timelines, quality, and safety.

Terabase announced on July 19 that it raised $25 million in its latest round from venture capital firm Fifth Wall, with participation from EDP Ventures and existing investors, to support the commercial scale-up of the Terafab system.

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Terafab combines a digital twin of the project site, supply chain and inventory management systems, an onsite wireless digital command center, a field-deployed automated assembly line, and installation rovers to allow for automated, 24/7 construction. Each Terafab unit is capable of installing up to 1 GW per year.

In May, Terabase announced that it had opened a 10 GW facility to manufacture Terefab systems in Woodland, California. The company said the factory will represent an investment of more than $50 million.

Four Terafab units with a collective annual production capacity of 1 GW are currently being produced, and Terabase is taking orders for 2024 in the "low hundreds of megawatts," CEO Matt Campbell said in an interview with Renewable Energy World.

Campbell said Terabase recently hosted many of the top asset owners and EPCs at its half-megawatt test project, which is constructed and deconstructed daily. Terafab technology was successfully field-tested last year, and was responsible for building 10 MW of a 400 MW solar project in Texas.

Terabase aims to have its Terafab platform constructing full projects by the middle of 2024. The first system will be shipped to a project in the Southwest in late July (project details will likely be announced in August, Campbell said.)

Meanwhile, Sarcos has signed an agreement with engineering, procurement, and construction firm Blattner Company to develop and refine its own autonomous mobile robotic system for utility-scale solar construction.

The companies intend to test the system through varying environmental conditions across different sites in preparation for Sarcos’ commercial launch of the system, currently estimated for late 2024. The effort will build upon the Sarcos Outdoor Autonomous Manipulation of Photovoltaic Panels (O-AMPP) project, which is funded through the support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.

Sarcos previously collaborated with Mortenson, a developer and EPC, as well as tracker supplier Array Technologies, robotics firm Pratt Miller, and JLG Industries, which manufactured the mobile elevating work platform. The field testing was done at a Mortenson project.

Videos shared by both companies of their platforms in action show the different approaches each is taking to automate solar project construction.

Terabase's Terafab system resembles a temporary factory with modules being bolted to the torque tube in a central tent before being transported by cart to the field for final installation. Combined with a digital twin, construction management, and forecasting software platforms, Terabase intends to provide a holistic platform for system design, deployment, and operation.

Campbell said he believes "you need to do both physical and digital to really drive efficiencies."

Sarcos, meanwhile, uses a mobile platform with an attached robotic arm to place individual panels one-by-one with the assistance of workers in the field.