MivzakLive News All The News From Israel
The Israeli Soltrax company unveiled a technological solution that significantly optimizes cleaning, operation and maintenance in solar farms. The system, which is currently in the field trials phase, consists of autonomous ground vehicles carrying a universal robot arm and a variety of complementary systems, such as a system for cleaning solar panels, a system for mowing grass and an array of sensors for thermographic monitoring of the solar panels and more.
In the company’s estimation, the navigation and orientation capabilities of the new system constitute a breakthrough in the field and allow the motorized unit to perform a variety of operations that until now could only be performed by manual personnel. Combining the capabilities makes it possible to reduce the operating costs of solar farms by up to 70 percent and the system is expected to save billions of dollars a year for solar energy farms around the world.
According to Ben Grotsky, CEO of Soltrax, most of the solar energy is currently produced in industrial solar farms that consist of hundreds of thousands of panels and cover large areas that can reach tens of thousands of dunams. “The market today is already 7 billion dollars, and by 2050 it is expected to reach 140 billion dollars. “The idea that humans will perform maintenance of millions of panels manually is not sustainable,” he says. “Sultrax’s goal is to make the world of operation and maintenance autonomous, scalable and digital,” Grotsky explains. “The use of a high-output multi-functional platform allows for the concentration of operations and thus significant savings in personnel and equipment costs that will ultimately be passed on to the consumer.”
According to Haim Zacharman, director of the robotics and automation division at SU-PAD, UR’s representative in Israel, the connection between a ground vehicle and a robotic arm is a solution that is gaining momentum. “A connection of this type allows the operational elements to manage from the control room a diverse spatial presence and to respond to issues that have elements of safety and environmental conditions. “Sultrex’s smart solution demonstrates well how advanced technology can improve competitiveness, promote Industry 4.0 applications and overcome the growing difficulty in recruiting and retaining employees, especially in repetitive and abrasive tasks.”
