Maximo automated photo voltaic panel set up, leveraging the standard and precision of an industrial robotic mounted on a cellular chassis. | Credit score AES
The Robotic Report lately sat down with Chris Shelton, the SVP and chief product officer at AES, to debate AES’s transition from energy technology to scrub vitality, specializing in photo voltaic development. AES developed Maximo, a photo voltaic development robotics service, leveraging AI imaginative and prescient, industrial robotics, and a cellular microgrid system.
Maximo, first launched in 2024, autonomously installs photo voltaic panels, with a fleet of 4 robots at present assembling 1 megawatt per day, equal to 1,900 panels. The corporate additionally plans to combine Maximo with EPC firms and develop an clever planning platform for the robots.
AES is on its fourth technology of field-tested robots
AES expects model 4 of Maximo to be available in the market in Q2 of subsequent yr. The answer is centered round an industrial six-axis robotic arm, mounted on prime of a cellular platform. A second, smaller industrial arm is mounted on the aspect of the platform, and designed to succeed in below the panels to finish the attachment course of. The robots are powered from onboard batteries and leverage imaginative and prescient and lidar sensors to trace the exact places of the panels, the panel mounts, and the encompassing crew.
The cellular platform shouldn’t be autonomous on this technology of the platform, however is towed by a tractor. The corporate expects to make the platform autonomous in a future technology.
The panel set up is delivered as a service in keeping with Shelton, “Maximo is a photo voltaic development robotics service that makes use of the robotics answer we offer; we receives a commission for an put in module. So we’re going to market with the entire answer, not simply the expertise. We predict that’s the appropriate strategy for our business. Maximo serves engineering, procurement, and development firms that construct photo voltaic farms for AES and others.”
“We’re simply doing the bodily half the place we’re getting it out of the field and inserting it on the torque tube, and attaching it on the underside proper. In order that’s simply extremely repetitive,” Shelton continued, “a crew would set up 250 to 300 of these per day in desert warmth. And people are about 80 kilos every.”
The working atmosphere for the Maximo system is harsh. When requested in regards to the expertise on the coronary heart of the system, Shelton acknowledged, “We thought AI and robotics have been match, and we wager on a number of developments. One of many largest bets was on AI-based imaginative and prescient. We anticipate to have completely different lighting circumstances and completely different climate. We’ll have completely different module sizes, completely different module producers, and completely different mounting types. So we wager on imaginative and prescient with the ability to take care of that. The second factor is to make use of confirmed industrial robotics for the meeting course of. The robots are sealed towards the weather and designed to final.”
Photo voltaic will assist rising information heart wants
In California, AES is constructing the most important photo voltaic storage complicated in america for Amazon and SCE. The ability will go to Amazon’s information facilities and operations. It’s 1000 megawatts of photo voltaic and 1000 megawatts of batteries. Maximo is constructing about 15% of part two of that. Based on Shelton, the corporate will end their phase of the set up at Bellefield 2 in December.
