Planted Solar, a California-based solar power plant development startup, is shaking up the solar industry by using robots and specialized modeling software to speed up deployment.
In response to the urgent need for quickly scalable carbon-free energy, the team is focused on installing as many high-density arrays as possible while reducing development costs.
According to Bloomberg, Planted Solar accomplishes both goals by installing the panels "like a blanket" on land that is typically unviable for any other use. Packing the arrays close together minimizes the space required while allowing for higher energy outputs per acre.
Per CB Insights, the company was founded in 2020 and has raised over $21 million in Series A funding to support its mission to streamline solar farm execution and "rapidly power the world with clean and abundant energy," as its LinkedIn page states.
Most of the company's funding came from a $20 million investment from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Khosla Ventures, as Bloomberg reported.
The team aims to scale up its deployment to bring terawatts of energy online while reducing the environmental impacts of solar farms. This will result in cheaper solar power for communities and a healthier planet.
Their unique installation system uses cutting-edge design software to push development plans to construction robots, which assemble the farm. Relying on robots allows the team to reduce project time and labor costs, as the company explained to Bloomberg.
Planted Solar says its rapid solar deployment system can double energy output per acre, producing 1 megawatt of power per 2 acres instead of the 5 acres needed for most solar farms. Planted told Bloomberg that this makes project costs 50% cheaper by reducing the land, resources, and installation time required, giving customers faster access to affordable, pollution-free power.
Expanding solar energy output is critical to reduce planet-warming gases, which are increasing Earth's temperature and contributing to more natural disasters. By curbing this pollution, communities will have more security and also better health.
The fact that Planted's solar platform needs less space and can conform to sloped landscapes is an advantage since land constraints will be a challenge for future large-scale solar projects, per Bloomberg.
As the Guardian reported, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management estimates the country will need 22 million acres for solar projects in the coming decades, so minimizing land usage is crucial to achieving a clean energy grid.
Bloomberg reports that Planted's next move is to keep expanding its presence in the U.S. and, eventually, other markets. Last month, it announced an 11 MW community solar project in Chicago with the solar and storage development company Cultivate Power.
"We believe that Planted Solar's innovative solar technology will play a critical role in accelerating the global adoption of clean energy," Carmichael Roberts at Breakthrough Energy Ventures said in the Planted press release. "The company's unique combination of software, robotics, and simplified hardware design has the potential to transform the solar power plant development and construction industry and make solar energy more accessible, affordable, and sustainable than ever before."
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