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Success Story—Putting Solar Energy Installation on Autopilot

Department of Energy (.gov) · last updated

On a bright, sunny morning, a team of machines settles in for a day of work. Their location: the construction site for a large-scale solar power plant. Their task: to install rows upon rows of solar panels, which will soon generate renewable energy to power American homes, businesses, and communities

While that may sound like an excerpt of science fiction, Terabase Energy received a $1 million award in 2019 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a new field factory facility that brings automation to solar power plant installation. It uses robotic arms to lift heavy solar panels and connect them to solar trackers, saving time, energy, and ultimately, money.

Thanks in part to DOE investments, the cost of photovoltaic (PV) technologies continues to come down. But with large-scale solar projects, labor and installation costs are on the rise. Terabase’s solution, called Terafab, is transforming the processes of designing arrays, delivering modules, and installing them at the site. Terafab enables the completion of the module and trackers installation phase in half the time compared to traditional methods, thereby doubling productivity.

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