The Rise of Robotics in Solar Farm Construction

The race to build expansive solar farms across the United States is facing a significant challenge: a shortage of skilled labor. In response to this issue, companies are increasingly turning to automation and robotics to help meet their needs.

On Tuesday, AES Corporation, one of the nation’s leading renewable energy firms, unveiled a groundbreaking robot designed specifically for the solar industry. This innovative machine, aptly named Maximo, is engineered to transport and install the thousands of heavy solar panels that are characteristic of large solar arrays. AES claims that Maximo can install solar panels at a speed twice that of human workers, all while reducing costs by 50%.

Roughly the size of a pickup truck, Maximo features a robust extendable arm equipped with suction cups. This allows it to meticulously pick up solar panels one at a time and place them into precise rows. Utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and computer vision technology, Maximo ensures each panel is positioned accurately.

After several months of rigorous testing, AES plans to deploy Maximo later this year in the California desert, where it will assist in the installation of panels for the largest solar-plus-battery project currently under construction. This project is intended to supply power to Amazon data centers. If the initial deployment proves successful, AES aims to manufacture hundreds of similar AI-driven robots.

This initiative is part of a broader trend across the energy sector, where companies are increasingly leveraging automation to address labor shortages, reduce costs, and accelerate the construction timelines of large solar farms—projects that have traditionally relied heavily on human labor. Without significant advancements in efficiency and productivity, industry leaders warn that it will become increasingly challenging to deploy solar energy rapidly enough to combat climate change and meet the surging demand for electricity in the U.S.

Andrés Gluski, the CEO of AES, stated in an interview, “We’re witnessing a labor shortage in construction projects throughout the United States, creating a bottleneck in the development of solar farms. So, how do we navigate this challenge? Well, robots can operate around the clock, and they can handle 80-pound solar panels with ease.”