The US startup with an efficient land use, area-compliant PV factory design for solar developers, said it will invest in expansion to Europe and in further product development.
Planted Solar, a startup-based startup that offers a unique PV-Array solution, including planning software and robot construction equipment, has announced that it initiates investing in further product development and initiating international expansion. It also collected $ 12 million in a new round of risk capital financing.
The Startup-Opstup, based in California, offers developers of Community-Sonne projects a more efficient implementation based on the planning and construction platform with plant design software, for precise planning, fixed tilts with high density of solar panels and construction machines. These are designed and optimized to ‘work together seamlessly’, according to Eric Brown, CEO of planted solar energy.
“Four years ago, most potential customers would have told us that they wanted a cheaper tracker. But we recognized the deeper challenge: delivering a fundamentally better way to implement solar energy – faster, cheaper and on land that others cannot use,” Brown did not say PV -Magazine.
By saying that it is a ‘fundamentally better way’, Brown refers to the statement of the planted solar -sun that requires the solution 50% less country compared to traditional solar energy, and that it enables a lower energy costs of 30%.
In addition, the terrain-following Arrays require 70% less steel than conventional designs, which reduces material and logistical costs. They are made to “eliminate the need for expensive sites”, making higher ground coverage possible, so that existing vegetation and topsoil can remain in place, according to the company.
“To really make that, we had to build four companies effectively in one: software, hardware, robotics and installation services, all about limited market feedback,” Brown explained.
The planted solar panels are installed as a sheet, packed close together, instead of using typical driving distance, when PV Magazine USA has reported. Instead of assessing the country to be flat and uniform, the sunbires of the company follow the site, which tolerates up to 27% slope.
According to the company, the software supports optimized layouts, energy models and engineering drawings, while the robotic systems of the field “make faster builds possible with smaller crews, which increases labor productivity and errors on location are minimized”.
“With minimal site preparation, simplified racks and field automation, the time from mowed field to mounted DC system is cut in two,” said Brown.
Since increasing a series A round of $ 20 million of venture capital last year, the company has completed various projects. “Our biggest milestone has dense, area-compliant arrays and robot-like implementation in real-world projects,” said Brown.
“From allowing financing and bankability, we have proceeded from proving feasibility to scaling up a new system for how Solar is being built,” he added.
Brown noticed on technological validation by solar developers, such as commercial and industrial (C&I) market-oriented renewable energy sources, as well as contractors and independent engineering firms. “They confirmed that the availability of land and the bet speed are important bottlenecks and can only be resolved with a different approach,” said Brown.
The company stated that the urge of the American market to accelerate the construction of new data centers is stimulating the need for the company’s technology. According to the headlines, developers in the US still move forward, according to Brown.
And in other markets, such as Asia-Pacific and Europe, there are opportunities to offer land-efficient solutions to ‘increase the acceptance of clean energy’. To tackle these opportunities, it has collected a $ 12 million financing round that is provided by established US risk capital investors.
Planted Zonne -Zon was founded in Oakland, California, in 2020.
Image: Planted solar energy
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