Californian startup Planted Solar uses construction robots and high-density arrays to deliver higher energy yields and lower system costs, according to the company.
Planted Solar, a solar startup based in Oakland, California, received $20 million in Series A funding from Bill Gates Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Kholsa Ventures, as well as from the Department of Energy Funds to scale its terrain-following solar installation design.
The company installs its arrays as a sheet, densely packed, instead of using the usual row spacing. Rather than developing the land flat and uniformly, the company’s solar installations follow the terrain and tolerate a 27% slope. This helps reduce land development costs and provides more energy per hectare.
This could prove important, as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management predicts the country will need 22 million acres to implement solar projects.
“Compared to south-facing fixed tilt and tracker designs, a Planted array offers a comparable kWh/kWp output when using a higher inverter load ratio (ILR) and is significantly lower in cost in terms of the structural balance of system and installation, reducing the amount of civil work and civil risk, and requiring much less land,” said Planted Solar.
The company said its design allows a megawatt of solar to be installed on just two hectares, less than the five hectares normally required for a megawatt of solar. The simple site-following installation leads to a 50% reduction in system costs and fewer installation hours.
“This results in a system with lower construction costs, larger DC system size and comparable annual kWh production,” the company said.
The terrain-following mounts are compatible with all conventional module sizes and formats, the company said.
After completing the design phase, the company uses installation robots to deploy the solar panels, reducing installation time and costs. Planted Solar said the design mitigates impacts such as erosion on the developed land, which is explained in a white paper.
“Planted’s low-impact approach to the installation of fixed-tilt solar PV foundations and tables is novel because of its automation, low impact/low disturbance and tolerance for using existing soil conditions without grading. In addition, the low cross-sectional area of the planted foundation legs should reduce local chafing compared to the traditional pile. Installing using Planted’s methodologies will reduce disruption and resulting hydrological and hydraulic impact on a site compared to traditional solar panel installations,” Planted Solar said.
Planted Solar CEO Eric Brown said the company is quickly “moving from pilots to portfolios.” The company announced that it had been selected with Cultivate Power for a portfolio of 11 MW of projects in the Chicago area.
“Planted Solar gives our team a strategic tool to be stewards of the land and develop better projects with our community partners,” said Brian Matthay, co-founder and CEO of Cultivate Power. “Cultivate is focused on working with landowners and communities so that we can seamlessly integrate solar energy with the local environment and agricultural activities.”
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