AES Maximo designed to save time and money for solar panel installation

The solar power industry is growing faster than the the available workforce, and robots can help it keep up with demand for cleaner energy. AES Corp. today introduced Maximo, a robot that it said uses artificial intelligence to improve solar installation speed, efficiency and safety. The Arlington, Va.-based company said Maximo can work alongside construction teams.  

“Maximo is the first proven solar-installation robot on the market,” claimed Andrés Gluski, president and CEO of AES. “We are facing unprecedented increases in demand, driven in large part by the rise of AI and data centers, and innovations like these will be fundamental for accelerating our ability to bring projects online faster and with greater efficiency.” 

Founded in 1981 as Applied Energy Services, AES owns and operates power plants worldwide. It created an carbon-offset program in 1989 by planting trees in Guatemala to offset emissions from a plant in Connecticut. In addition to traditional fuels, the Fortune 500 company has invested in a variety of renewable energy sources.

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Solar panel installs grow by 1M lb. per hour

By 2035, solar annual additions will triple, predicted the International Energy Agency, and the workforce will need to nearly double. 

“Today, the U.S. solar industry is setting an impressive pace, installing about 15,000 modules per hour, weighing 1 million pounds. Looking ahead, this installation rate is projected to reach 50,000 modules per hour by 2035,” said Chris Shelton, chief product officer at AES.

“In response to this exponential growth, we are scaling Maximo, deploying fleets of continually improving robots to empower our teams for faster and more competitive installations,” he said. 

AES asserted that Maximo can install solar panels at 50% of the time and cost of conventional methods, working with on-the-ground crews to reduce the time-to-power for customers.

“The demand for clean energy continues to grow, and at AES, we believe that innovation can help us meet those needs for our customers,” said Deise Yumi Asami, founder of AES. “[Maximo] utilizes some of the most advanced technology, to ensure the fastest and most precise installation in even the most challenging outdoor environments.

Maximo built to bring accuracy, safety to work

Maximo can enhance the safety and scalability of solar installation by automating the heavy lifting for placing and attaching solar modules, said AES. It listed Maximo’s features, which were designed with Amazon Web Services (AWS) tools including RoboMaker:

• AI-powered computer vision: This ensures precise panel placement to enhance installation accuracy.
• Continuous learning: The system can adapt for optimal performance and for further efficiency improvements.
• Image reconstruction: A proprietary generative AI pipeline can reconstruct images obscured by glare or related lighting conditions.  

Maximo can accelerate project timelines, create new high-tech jobs, and bring opportunities to new segments of the workforce, AES claimed. The robot can expand job opportunities in solar installation while providing individuals the experience to develop AI skills and learn emerging technologies, it added.

Maximo has already installed nearly 10 MW of solar and is projected to install 100 MW by 2025. AES expects to use Maximo to help build up to 5 GW of its solar backlog and pipeline over the next three years.

Major AES deployments for Amazon

AES plans to use Maximo in its construction of the 2 GW Bellefield project in Kern County, Calif. It noted that Bellefield is the largest solar-plus-storage project in the U.S., with 1 GW generated by solar panels, and 1 GW of battery storage, enough to power 467,000 homes daily.

Amazon is an offtaker of the project. AWS is also working with AES at Baldy Mesa to use machine learning to control the charging and discharging of energy from batteries.

AES described the Oak Ridge Solar project in Louisiana, also to help power Amazon operations, as its first large-scale utility deployment and a “significant milestone in Maximo’s journey.” 

“As society’s energy needs grow, the demand for new solar and wind projects is also increasing,” said Kara Hurst, Amazon’s chief sustainability officer. “We’re excited to collaborate with renewable energy developers like AES that are bringing new renewables to the grid, and prioritizing innovative technologies that can help accelerate those efforts.” 

Maximo can perform in a broad range of climates and lighting conditions and has been validated in the field across a variety of U.S. project sites. It will begin installing at Bellefield in August, said AES.