From pv magazine 04/25
With labor shortages affecting the utility-scale solar segment, some companies are presenting so-called robot “super workers” as a solution. California-based startup RoboForce aims to eventually deploy a troupe of robot workers on the moon but, for now, its ambitions are more grounded, focusing on solar developers who can’t find staff. Fellow United States-based startup, Charge Robotics, is doing something similar.
“RoboForce is focused on transforming the solar industry by deploying ‘robo-labor’ to address labor shortages and enhance productivity, especially in harsh and demanding environments,” said the startup’s head of business development, Veeral Hardev.
The company began the year with a $10 million funding announcement and the launch of its latest model at Intersolar North America 2025.
“With our first pilot projects launching soon, and the recent build of our outdoor mini-farm solar testing site, we aim to significantly improve efficiency in solar construction,” said Hardev.
Golden opportunity
Hardev told pv magazine that he sees solar as RoboForce’s first market and it’s easy to see why. In the United States, industry analysts have been flagging labor shortages for some time now. In a Q4, 2024 report, analyst Wood Mackenzie and trade body the Solar Energy Industries Association said that labor shortages will continue to affect utility-scale solar installations.
A combination of labor shortages and inflation caused labor costs to rise by 10% in 2024. In more recent reports, Wood Mackenzie has predicted labor shortages will continue to pose a problem in 2025.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates employment of solar installers is projected to grow 48% from 2023 to 2033, much faster than the average for all occupations. Around 4,100 openings for solar installers are projected each year on average over that decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, by retiring, for instance.
Hardev said those problems provide “a massive business opportunity” for RoboForce. In September 2024, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with CT Green Capital to deploy its technology on the developer’s 1 GW, utility-scale project, which will require approximately 3 million solar panels.
CT Green Capital is only one of many utility-scale developers turning to automation. On the other side of the world, Neoen Australia is currently trialing artificial intelligence-powered installer robots manufactured by Chinese company Leapting, at its 350 MW Culcairn Solar Farm in Riverina, New South Wales.
Safety first
Two people who worked on that project said the reason to deploy the robots had more to do with safety than labor shortages.
Judging by some of the comments pv magazine has received from utility-scale solar developers themselves, however, it is possible that high-tech evangelists such as RoboForce may be overestimating the solar sector’s current ability, and indeed appetite to completely automate installation.
“Staffing has not been a major constraint for the project as the Riverina region is dynamic, in terms of solar development, and is an attractive place for people to live and work,” said Neoen’s spokespeople, regarding the Culcairn Solar Farm. “We first looked at using robots through a safety and ergonomic lens, as modules’ size and weight have increased over the past couple of years.”
The safety question arising from increasing robot deployment on sites is an important one that should not get lost amid the need for efficiency.
For the moment, Neoen is happy with Leapting’s robots. “The Leapting solution was the most advanced system; it was compatible with our modules and ready to be deployed,” said one of the spokespeople. “The robots have been deployed for the past few weeks. As they are AI trained, they continually adapt to improve efficiency. The trend we are seeing on site is encouraging.”
US developer AES Corp. opted to make its own robot. Maximo was launched in July 2024, and since then it has deployed over 10 MW at four of the company’s sites, including its 2 GW solar-plus-storage plant in California.
Nicolas Riehl, head of product for Maximo at AES, said the company is expanding its fleet of Maximo robots to support its 2025 installation target of 100 MW.
Like Neoen Australia, safety was a big factor in AES’ decision to deploy robot installers. As Riehl explained, crews engaged with solar module installation “lift and place hundreds of 65-plus pound modules daily, often in extreme environments like desert heat.”
“Like using an excavator in place of a shovel, Maximo makes the work less strenuous, which improves working conditions for construction crews and brings a new level of inclusivity to solar jobs,” said Riehl. “A prime example of this is a few members of our crew were expectant mothers; working alongside Maximo allowed them to safely participate in a segment of the workforce that they would have otherwise been excluded from.”
RoboForce is also working the safety angle as a selling point for its robots but it maintains a much more pessimistic view of developers’ ability to attract and retain human workers, long term, than any of the developers that were asked for comment for this article.
Assist or replace?
Hardev said most of RoboForce’s competitors are “more like worker assistants, where they’re helping, and you still need human workers to do the fine, dexterous motor skills.”
“They aren’t removing the need to have workers do repetitive, demanding stuff,” Hardev argued. “Think about these large solar sites that are hundreds of megawatts, or a gigawatt in scale, there’s millions of solar panels.
“Each one of those millions of solar panels has probably four to six fastening points. You still need somebody to do that kind of work by hand. If you’re off by more than 1 millimeter, it’s not going to work.”
RoboForce is developing its AI technology to be self-learning so it can retain accuracy no matter what kind of products or environment it is working with. That has involved a lot of market research and noting every safety limitation human workers faced.
Height was one, said Hardev. “When we visited sites, we saw guys lying on their backs doing the work, trying to install close to the ground. It’s difficult to do. And vice versa, sometimes they might have to get a ladder if it’s much higher.”
Location is another such factor, Hardev explained. “Depending on where the project is being built, there are certain considerations; if it’s in a flood zone, typically, at least in the United States, we see the minimum ground clearance height being about two-thirds of a meter off the ground. Our robot has a column where it can raise itself and it’s got long, industrial arms so it can reach very high and very low, to ground level.”
RoboForce competitor Maximo has also been designed to be intuitive, albeit so it can assist workers, as opposed to replacing them. Using AI, Riehl and his team have reduced the time it takes to train Maximo on new modules “from weeks to minutes.”
“This solution directly addresses the barrier of moving quickly from one project to another and keeps our fleet operating all year long,” said Riehl. “We wanted Maximo to be easy to incorporate and simple for crews to be trained on. We have developed and designed a state-of-the-art user interface and user experience and training program so crew members can be onboarded in days.
“Also, we are developing a formal certification process for crew members to be certified to operate our robots. With safety at the top of our mind, at each construction site we work closely with EPCs [engineering, procurement, and construction companies] and project owners to ensure that our operations adhere to the highest safety standards.”
Riehl said he has received positive feedback from the union crews that have worked with Maximo on projects. “One stated that working with Maximo was such a great experience that he doesn’t want to go back to traditional installation,” he added.
No silver bullet
Oana Penu is director of the European Union-backed European Institute of Innovation and Technology InnoEnergy Skills Institute. She said training staff to work alongside robots in a safe, efficient way is key to their long-term successful deployment on utility-scale sites.
“Robots are not a silver bullet,” she warned. “Without substantial investment in training for these collaborative roles, we risk substituting one workforce shortage with another.”
She also pointed out that segments such as rooftop and residential solar still very much rely on human workers. “While robots can position panels, they currently lack the capability to perform tasks such as wiring, testing, or troubleshooting. They are most effective on large-scale, flat solar farms. Rooftop installations and complex terrains will still require plenty of human work.”
From the technologist’s point of view, manual labor jobs will mostly be automated in the future. “We believe, as the next generation is coming, there is just not a desire for people to do these kinds of jobs,” said Hardev. “So we think this gap will be exacerbated over time. It’s a big challenge and pain point in the industry.”
It’s too soon to say for sure if he is correct on all of his predictions but, as developers seem willing to attest, it is true that robots can help alleviate labor shortages and address safety concerns on utility-scale sites.
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