Greentech Lead America: QBotix, a provider of robotics
solutions to support solar systems, has launched QBotix Tracking System, a
comprehensive dual-axis tracking system designed to maximize energy output in
solar power plants.
QBotix also announced it has raised $6.5
million in a Series A financing from New Enterprise
Associates, Firelake Capital, Siemens Venture Capital, and DFJ
JAIC, bringing the total amount of financing raised to date by the company
to $7.5 million.
QBotix Tracking System (QTS) is based on a new paradigm
for power plant architecture and operation invented by QBotix: Solar Robotics.
QTS provides the higher performance and energy output of
dual-axis tracking at conventional single-axis tracking prices. It increases
the energy production of ground-mounted solar power plants by up to 40 percent
over existing fixed mount systems and lowers the Levelized Cost of Electricity
(LCOE) by up to 20 percent.
The revolutionary system employs rugged, intelligent and
mobile robots to dynamically operate solar power plants and maximize energy
output. This yields better investment for project developers and investors, greater
system reliability and performance for operators and owners, and solar energy
that competes in price globally with conventional grid power for utilities and
consumers.
“Robots have proven themselves in extreme and
diverse environments from the surface of Mars to battlefields and ocean
depths,” said Wasiq Bokhari, CEO and founder of QBotix. “We’re now deploying
the innovations developed in robotics over the last several decades to manage
solar power plants.”
QTS utilizes a pair of autonomous robots, one primary and
one back-up, to control 300 kW of solar
panels with high accuracy and reliability. The solar panels are installed on
QBotix designed mounting systems that don’t have any individual motors and are
optimized for cost, strength, durability and installation simplicity.
The robots travel on a track and adjust each mounting
system to optimally face the sun in succession. Each robot replaces hundreds of
individual motors and controllers found on conventional tracking systems. The
embedded intelligence and data communication capabilities of each autonomous
robot optimize power plant performance and enables detailed operational
knowledge at an unprecedented level.
In addition, QTS offers fast installation, has low
operations and maintenance costs, and is compatible with all solar panels and
mounting foundations.
This results in a better return on investment for project
developers and investors, greater system reliability and performance for
operators and owners, and solar energy that competes in price globally with
conventional grid power for utilities and consumers.
QBotix is composed of solar industry veterans and
robotics innovators from Silicon Valley, MIT, Caltech and Stanford.
Further the company announced that Siemens
Technology-To-Business, which helps bring new technologies to market, has
finished its year-long qualification of QTS for deployment.
“Our main focus is to deliver a compelling
combination of high performance, reliability, competitive cost, and
unprecedented intelligence to our customers,”Bokhari added. “Regardless of the
choice of solar panels, inverters, foundations or other system components, the
use of QTS will dramatically lower LCOE compared to all existing mounting or
tracking systems.”