Solar installation automation platform sees first successful deployment

Terabase Energy, a provider of digital and automation solutions for solar power plants, announced the successful completion of its first commercial project built using its construction automation platform.

The California-based startup’s “Terafab” construction automation platform installed 17 MW of the 225 MW White Wing Ranch solar project in Arizona. This project proceeded with collaboration with developer Leeward Renewable Energy and EPC contractor RES.

The Terafab automated field factory combines a digital twin of the project site, advanced supply chain and inventory management systems, an onsite wireless digital command center, a field-deployed automated assembly line, and specialized installation rovers to allow for automated, 24/7 construction.

Terabase claims that Terafab can double installation productivity compared to traditional methods and lower overall project costs. The company expects to commercially launch its robotic solar field construction solution in 2024. Four Terafab units with a collective annual production capacity of 1 GW are currently being produced, and Terabase is taking orders for 2024 in the “low hundreds of megawatts,” CEO Matt Campbell said in an interview with Renewable Energy World.

Founded in 2019, Terabase has raised more than $50 million, most recently from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

“This milestone marks a pivotal moment in our mission to accelerate solar power plant deployment to meet the Terawat scale demands of the future,” said Mat Campbell, CEO of Terabase Energy. “Our partnership with Leeward Renewable Energy and RES has not only validated the efficacy of the Terafab system but also laid the groundwork for future projects.”

GO DEEPER: In Episode 14 of the Factor This! podcast, Terabase co-founder and CEO Matt Campbell shared how companies like his are using software and automation to rethink how solar farms are built and managed. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Terabase says its system set several new industry benchmarks at full production:

• Provided workers with shaded and cooled working conditions to allow for system operation in a very hot desert environment.
• Eliminated the manual lifting of heavy steel tubes and solar panels.
• Demonstrated labor productivity improvements of 25% compared with manual installation.
• Enabled 100% return of PV module packaging for reuse by the manufacturer.
• Demonstrated the synergy of automation, Internet of Things (IoT), a digital twin, and data analytics to improve solar construction management on a remote site with difficult environmental conditions.

Earlier this year, Terabase unveiled its plans for the Terafab concept. In addition to launching the new product, Terabase announced that it has opened a 10 GW Terafab manufacturing facility in Woodland, California. The facility is currently in operation, and Terabase said Terafabs will be deployed to several projects in 2023.

Terabase announced in July that it raised $25 million in its round from venture capital firm Fifth Wall, with participation from EDP Ventures and existing investors, to support the commercial scale-up of the Terafab system.