Solavio Labs, an Indian start-up that provides autonomous solar panel cleaning technology, is expanding its footprint to North America and the Middle East after securing fresh funding.
The company has received INR40,60,000 (US$56,000) from the New Brunswick Innovation Fund in Canada, taking its total amount raised to around US$275,000.
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With orders lined up from developers globally for 100MW of PV plants, Solavio is now looking to scale its Indian manufacturing base with the production of 12,000 robotic cleaning units by the end of the 2021-22 financial year.
Founded by two engineers, Solavio Labs has developed an artificial intelligence-based dry cleaning solution that it says is compatible “with almost any panel or climatic condition”.
The firm aims to offer an alternative to other module cleaning methods that can be labour and water intensive, claiming its solution “saves more than 200,000 litres of water per megawatt per year”.
Having secured orders from solar developers in India and Dubai, the company has experienced “phenomenal growth” in the past year, according to co-founder Suraj Mohan. “We will continue to innovate technology and play our part in strengthening India’s position in the global map,” he said.
Solavio Labs recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, which has seen the firm deploy its panel cleaning robots at a 1.8MW solar PV plant at the utility’s head office.
The fundraising follows a recent initial public offering by Israel-based robotic solar cleaning provider Ecoppia in which the company secured US$82.5 million. In the UK, Clean Solar Solutions, which provides robotic panel cleaning as well as other operations and maintenance services, last month opened its second office in the country to reduce response time to clients.