Identification and Resolution of Faults Arising During the Maintenance or Construction of Solar Parks

Sunly is an Independent Power Producer with a mission to ensure the availability of clean energy in the Baltics and Poland. We develop renewable energy projects and energy storage solutions, and we invest in startups in the electrification sector. Sunly's core activity – renewable energy production – plays a decisive role in achieving the climate, energy security, and energy affordability goals that lie ahead. We work hand in hand with businesses, landowners, communities, grid operators, and green energy investors to ensure a smooth transition to renewable energy for all parties involved.

The goal of our challenge is to help detect and resolve issues that arise during the construction or maintenance of solar parks.


Challenge Description and Who is Affected?

With the increasing construction of large-scale solar parks, often 10+ MW or even 100+ MW, the size of these parks can span hundreds of hectares. For maintenance personnel, monitoring the entire park and identifying faults, such as loose bolts, overgrown vegetation, or malfunctioning panel rows, becomes a significant challenge. Similarly, for construction workers, it is difficult to report issues over long distances or retrieve forgotten tools without having to walk several kilometers.The challenge is to devise solutions that would make the construction or maintenance of large-scale solar parks more efficient.

Why is This Challenge Important Now?

The internal distances in large-scale solar parks are vast, and automated solutions could help save both time and money.

What Would Success Look Like?

A two-phase solution:

Phase 1: There happen to be minor differences between what is shown on park design files (CAD files) and how actual construction of the park is constructed, for example, panel strings (panel arrays) being switched. This problem makes it hard for park monitoring software to tell the location of the fault as it would usually give an answer "Raba park Substation 1 Inverter 3 String 18 Underperforming" so that asset managers and or maintenance team can analyze it in detail. This would optimize procedures of reacting to alarms. Additionally, to having automatic mapping of parks from CAD files inside the monitoring software as well of giving input to the Phase 2.

Phase 2: Use drones, autonomous vehicles, or other automated tools to resolve the identified issue, whether it's inspecting a faulty panel row, delivering tools to a worker, or addressing a construction issue. The tool should automatically detect the problem’s location, choose the fastest route, and either visualize or resolve the issue autonomously.

Alternatively, propose your own solution that demonstrates a significant improvement in efficiency using any other approach. The solution could be tested in collaboration with Sunly in various solar parks.

All innovative and novel ideas related to solar park construction or maintenance are welcome.

Possible/Existing Directions for Solutions

Examples of existing solutions:

Percepto AIM (Autonomous Inspection and Monitoring): This system leverages autonomous drones and ground-based robots to monitor critical infrastructure such as solar parks. The drones can detect issues like equipment malfunctions, panel damage, or obstructions and provide real-time data to maintenance teams. Percepto AIM uses AI-driven analytics to improve efficiency and reduce downtime, offering a prime example of how automation can enhance large-scale solar park operations.

Ecoppia: This solution uses fully autonomous robots for cleaning solar panels without water. These robots travel across panel arrays and clean them with soft microfiber brushes, which significantly improves panel efficiency while cutting down on manual labor and resource usage.

DroneDeploy: This platform uses drones to create high-resolution maps and 3D models of solar farms, helping construction and maintenance teams to plan and monitor the entire site more effectively. Drones equipped with thermal cameras can also detect energy loss in panels.

Post-Event Support (Company Involvement)

Ongoing mentorship and the opportunity to conduct tests in solar parks.