Australian solar projects deploy five autonomous robots to increase module installation efficiency
The large robotic vehicle moves on rubber tracks between two rows of solar trackers. The robotic arm extends towards the pallet, recognizes the large glass panel module, grabs it firmly, and places it carefully on the available rails.
The laborer working along with the robot is not required to lift the glass panel because that is actually the objective of Australia’s LUMI project. This was launched at the Goorambat East solar farm in Victoria and then extended to Culcairn in New South Wales.
Five customized robots have been employed in this project to improve the efficiency of installation by 3.5 times.
In normal single-axis tracking installations, workers have to spend many hours manually carrying heavy solar modules, putting them on mounts and bolting them there.
The robot performs the hardest movements
Installation of solar panels is highly physically intensive manual work. In normal single-axis tracking installations, workers have to spend many hours manually carrying heavy solar modules, putting them on mounts and bolting them there.
The LUMI technology focuses on the two hardest elements of this process—lifting and placing the modules. The tracked base moves along the rows, while its robotic arm with machine vision picks up each module and places it on the racking.
It would be incorrect to say that people become unnecessary for this process.
In the first trials at Goorambat East farm, people had to follow the robot to pick up, fasten, and inspect the modules, as well as transport new pallets along the rows using skid steers.
Goorambat East was the first test
The first two LUMI Series 4 robots were installed at Goorambat East, which is a 320 MW-peak solar power station with more than 517,000 LONGi panels. The developer, Luminous, and the construction partner, Equans, chose a single construction block to conduct the tests using robotic assembly.
The process of testing turned out to be extremely effective, surpassing the set-up rate target by 103%, according to the information-sharing reports published by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Labor efficiency indicators kept getting better as the machines got used to field work, which led to a three-and-a-half-fold improvement in performance efficiency.
A single robot could install up to 75 modules per hour alongside two people.
Five machines are the next step
ARENA structured the deployment across three progressive phases. Following the trial at Goorambat East, three additional LUMI units are slated to join the fleet at Culcairn, bringing the total to five machines.
The Culcairn project has an astounding 440-megawatt capacity in New South Wales, whereas Goorambat East produces 250 megawatts of alternating current energy in Victoria.
Expanding to five units represents a move from being experimental to going operational. ARENA plans to build 3.5 megawatts collectively on a weekly basis with very little monitoring.
The bottleneck shifts from the robot to somewhere else
It has been an issue related to the productivity of the industry since the machine operates at high speeds and becomes idle due to certain delays along the way in the process.
Luminous realized that streamlining field operations was critical to achieving the highest possible installation speed. An initially planned approach for staging the pallets became obsolete and was replaced by an entirely new one due to inefficiency, according to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The software also had to undergo swift changes. Twenty-seven updates to the software were applied during just one month at Goorambat, due to unanticipated factors at the site that complicated the robot’s algorithms.
This robotic arm is just a part of the whole system that needs to operate at the same speed.
Aim for less expensive solar energy, not fewer footsteps
There are also some macroeconomic goals set in connection with this project. Apart from increasing the workers’ productivity 3.5 times, the project seeks to reduce the LCOE of solar power generation by up to 6.2%.
There are also some specific macroeconomic goals with which the ARENA is investing in the development of this project. The project not only aims to increase workers’ productivity 3.5 times but also to decrease the LCOE of solar power generation by up to 6.2%.
This strategy is not an accomplishment yet. The Goorambat test showed that although the robots were good at performing mechanical tasks, the overall speed of the process depended on logistics, interpersonal relations, and programming.
Another report from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency says that the final test of the possibility of scaling is the transformation from an efficient robot to a scalable construction system, which was used to construct two gigantic solar power stations.
And this is the last thought: not only will it make all manual labor unnecessary, but it will also change the performance of the clean energy installation industry altogether.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
