Electricity is essential for a country’s urbanization, industrialization, and also for economic growth. As the demand for energy continues to grow over time, it has become imperative to build resources to meet the need of the hour. One of the most convenient and significant sources is solar power, which has been tremendously generated over the years with the help of the government’s effective initiative and innovative manufacturing technology. The maintenance of solar energy is also a crucial aspect of it, as many external influences make the panels filthy, which include dust, road dirt, birds, and salt spray among many others.
One such company helping in the conservation of solar power with its innovative technique is Ecoppia. It is the world leader in robotic cleaning solutions for PV solar, offering fully autonomous and remotely managed fleet of robots, performing daily cleaning to each solar panel on site. The robots are a sustainable solution to the large and ultra-large scale sites built globally, relying on automation for efficient and constant energy production.
A vast majority of solar sites are built in arid regions, where dust storms are frequent, and there is water scarcity. Ecoppia offers completely water-free and solar powered solutions, enabling solar expansion even in the most scorched and remote regions, and also providing an overall cost reduction of solar in comparison with polluting energy sources.
The Resourceful Leader
Eran Meller is the CEO and Co-founder of Ecoppia. He has a vast experience in various ventures of homeland security, medical equipment, and energy industries which require the highest standards and 100% reliability and he uses that well in Ecoppia to lead the company on the trail of success. Working in the reputed IFC (International Finance Corporation) – the private arm of the World Bank, Eran is entirely familiar with the process of financing of large-scale projects and working in remote areas, striving for better lives for the local inhabitants.
Green Energy–The Driving Force behind
Eccopia’s vision is to make the green energy even greener. “We see the transition to renewable energy as the only viable source of energy in the coming years, and we pride ourselves in ensuring solar is not only cost effective demonstrating lower LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy) but also clean, green and good for the environment,” adds Eran.
Transforming towards Automation
Until recently, large-scale solar sites were still cleaned manually, spending gallons of water to ensuring minimal soiling loss and average production. However, wasting large volumes of water on cleaning solar panels doesn’t seem the right or the sustainable approach towards a greener future.
Be it brushing the panels manually using mop and brush, or driving a vehicle with a tank of water, these solutions are not sustainable for large-scale solar projects. In addition to the inefficiency of such cleaning processes, it has also been proven to be not gentle enough on the panels so it may cause damage over time. Lastly, it is also very costly to arrange for water transportation, water treatment and a constant presence of cleaning crews on site.
Ecoppia’s approach is fully automated and 100% reliable. The company offers cloud-based and smart robotic cleaning solutions for large-scale solar sites, using a wholly water-free and energy independent mechanisms, as the robots themselves are solar powered. The robots are fully autonomous and remotely managed, programmed to perform an effective cleaning every day once energy production hours are over, ensuring the solar panels are always clean and are capable of optimally producing electricity, year-round.
Contributing to a Better Tomorrow
Water is an indispensable element for human life and preserving it is a must. Ecoppia robots play a crucial part in saving millions and millions of volumes of water and in a way using it judiciously for agriculture, sanitation, drinking, and many more. With this service, the costly cumbrous processes of water transportation to site and water treatment processes are no longer required. This entire water infrastructure on site that used to be mandatory until recently is not anymore necessary. In the last five years, Ecoppia has gained unparalleled experience dealing with harsh climatic conditions in its various projects around the globe and proven to remain active, reliable and safe on the panels.
Strengthening with Time
With the growing dominance of Single Axis Trackers (SAT) technology in solar, and also keeping in pace with the present market demand, Ecoppia has added a dedicated robotic system for SAT to its offerings and now offers fully autonomous cleaning solutions to the entire portfolio of its clients.
Also, the Ecoppia AI platform captures a significant role in its service offerings. Using multiple data sources and machine learning capabilities, predictive maintenance and overall optimal performance are introduced and offered to Ecoppia clients.