According to estimates, the solar sector will need to reach 400,000 jobs by 2030 and more than double by 2035 to meet climate goals set last year.

How can solar project developers meet higher demands while keeping projects on track? And how can the solar industry train thousands of skilled workers and get them up-to-speed and ready to work?

One answer is robotics. The role of robotics is more important than ever amid the workforce limitations in the solar industry. New technology will play a critical role in developing utility-scale solar projects to help meet energy goals in the U.S. 

Deploying robotics technology enables the industry to achieve ambitious solar deployment goals because it makes solar construction more efficient while shortening operator training times. From shipping and packing methods and transportation to installation, robotics provides a way to shrink the labor and time needed to deploy utility-scale solar.

Solar & Robotics Technology and Process

Many companies are already looking to crack the robotics code in utility-scale solar. One company, Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation (Sarcos), uses technology that provides intelligent mobile manipulation systems for complex and often dangerous outdoor environments, making the role of robotic applications helpful in improving safety, productivity, and efficiency.  

Sarcos’ robotics have been applied in the aviation, defense, energy, and medical industries. The company uses robotic arms, human-directed controllers, robotic systems, and advanced autonomy software (artificial intelligence) “to develop robotic systems that empower humans to do their jobs safely and efficiently.”  

Applying Robotics Expertise to the Solar Industry

The use of ‘supervised autonomy’ provides safer roles for human operators by delegating dangerous tasks to the robot. When riskier jobs are assumed by human-controlled mechanical arms in applications like solar construction, it can shorten project timelines while reducing accidents and injuries.  

Solar modules are large pieces of fragile equipment that require significant manual labor hours to deliver and install. With solar modules trending upward in size, they’ll only get heavier and trickier to handle.  

Large solar sites are generally in remote areas like deserts or mountainsides. These locations are great for solar projects but can be demanding on manual laborers, especially in harsh environmental conditions. Adding robotics to the solar construction industry can make project installation safer and quicker. 

Using a $1.9 million grant from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), ARRAY Technologies and Sarcos have collaborated to implement robotics into solar projects across the country. The program aims to develop a robotic system for the Outdoor Autonomous Manipulation of Photovoltaic Panels (O-AMPP). In addition to ARRAY and Sarcos, the collaboration includes JLG Industries, Mortenson, and Pratt Miller. 

Sarcos will use computer vision and machine learning with its autonomous robotic technology to deliver, manipulate, and install solar modules in challenging locations. By buffering the dangerous aspects of solar module maneuvering and installation, these smart robotic arms are creating processes to move solar equipment faster and build sites with fewer errors.   

ARRAY will supply the tracker technology, and our engineers will collaborate with teams from contributing companies. By helping the development of this technology, ARRAY has the potential to play a vital role in changing the face of the solar industry through entirely new workflows and implementations. 

How Robotics Can Help the U.S. Achieve Carbon-free Energy Goals

The increase in efficiency and safety associated with robotics has the potential to enable solar project developers to ramp up production to the levels we need to hit to achieve the DOE’s 2035 and 2050 energy goals. These goals call for 95% decarbonization by 2035 and 100% decarbonization by 2050.  

Solar would need to account for 45% of electricity generation to achieve these levels by 2050. The Solar Energy Industry Association estimates that solar installations must increase by 60% above current forecasts between 2022 and 2030 to meet these climate targets. 

According to the 2020 National Solar Jobs Census by the SEIA, The Solar Foundation, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), and BW Research, the industry is facing significant workforce limitations. 

This widespread industry labor shortage was brought on partly by workforce training and mobilization lags caused mainly by the pandemic. Just as training for skilled workers in solar began to ramp up, most of the world was put on hold.   

Despite these challenges, demand for solar energy has only increased. This is a good thing, but logistically there are not enough people trained and ready to meet the demand. Robotics opens opportunities for people to learn skills around supervising these operations. 

Robotics’ Role in Ramping Up Solar Despite a Labor Shortage  

Given the limitations of a tight labor market and a labor-intensive installation process, robotic automation is expected to be a critical force multiplier in the global effort to increase the development of solar energy projects. Developing and refining robotic construction capabilities is essential for boosting solar deployment that’s also safer for humans. It creates new jobs for skilled laborers, with shorter training timeframes and fewer risks when they start work.  

We see collaboration with robotics leaders as one of many essential steps in helping the utility-scale solar industry think in broader terms and realize new productivity levels. All this can make U.S. energy and climate goals a reality—a win for the industry, the U.S. climate, and the world.  

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That is about to change.

Insurers are now demanding deeper, more insightful data regarding potential PV plant downtime, business interruption, warranty replacement timeframes, component robustness, extreme weather risk and climate change effects, long-term operating expenses, and more.

This means that the parties traditionally counted on to deliver insights regarding the appropriate insurance budget, namely the CFO, legal counsel, asset manager, or project management team from a developer or EPC, are no longer best suited for the job. There’s a need for a neutral third party to determine the risk implications.

Introducing the dedicated CRO into the solar equation is the key to solving current challenges related to skyrocketing insurance rates and declining coverage.

Background: Insurance Costs Are Ballooning in the Solar Industry

That premium increase can be traced to a general lack of insight into long-term operating expenses, particularly related to extreme weather damage from wind and hail. That lack of knowledge has seen costs rise, deductibles increase, and coverage decline. In fossil fuel energy, models and historical data are predictable and proven, making insurers more willing to play ball.

However, there is hope. Project Finance News also found that, in general, “larger developers with more sophisticated risk-management programs are more easily able to secure insurance coverage.” The end goal then is to work to that great level of granularity and sophistication.

Electing and Empowering a Solar Risk Officer

Questions and uncertainty surrounding projects make insurance firms more likely to shift financial risk away from themselves and onto financiers and developers. For example, global renewables insurer GCube requires wind assets achieve a certain number of operating hours before coverage can even be granted.

Insurers may follow suit in the solar industry, waiting for more certainty before being willing to offer elevated coverage – or even any coverage at all.

For developers considering a utility-scale solar project, better information upfront will help them build better models for their investment.

PV plant projects need to carefully select the right equipment, thoroughly understand its capabilities, particularly as they relate to withstanding extreme weather events, and simultaneously offer clear evidence and models demonstrating uptime and maximized production over the proposed lifetime of a plant.

That means that electing a formalized Chief Risk Officer is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity for PV solar renewables manufacturers and service providers, just as it has been in other similar finance- and capital-intensive industries.

Insurance rates and coverage will continue current negative trends until a dedicated negotiator – the CRO – can deliver more credible and proven information.

Alongside module, balance of system (BOS) and EPC experts, the Chief Risk Officer can certify, document and prove the robustness and testing background of all PV solar plant components and related shipping, construction and installation, weather resiliency, and ongoing operating and maintenance costs.

ARRAY’s Role in Assisting these New Solar Risk Officers

ARRAY’s experts are ready to provide end-to-end project support, including assistance in designing and implementing the right plan for each site that offers powerful production capabilities, robust components, and lower total cost of ownership.

Certainty and evidence will be the driving forces behind improvements in insurance rates and coverage.  ARRAY’s  DuraTrack® HZ v3 single-axis solar tracker provides clear evidence of flexibility and performance and robustness in the face of extreme weather events that have typically proven catastrophic for PV plant projects.

Because trackers represent, according to BloombergNEF, an average of 10-15% of a solar energy project’s costs, they can also be a central factor in the insuring of the plant. While a trackers present a small percentage of the total costs, they have the ability to substantially impact the performance and durability of a project. A track record of more than three decades, combined with independent research, show that ARRAY’s  DuraTrack® offering is the optimal choice when searching for a combination of components, technology and service to lower long-term costs.

By choosing a tracker proven to perform, that directly contributes to lower overall risk, PV plant projects can enter negotiations with insurers on a stronger foot by choosing a tracker that is proven to perform. As a result, this will mitigate and lower their overall risk.

Contact ARRAY Technologies Today

To learn more, contact us today.

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