Ecoppia takes part in Indian solar revolution

2 May, 2016

Ecoppia will open a production line of its unique robots that reliably clean solar panels from dust and dirt. India is determined to reform its energy production industry, to produce 100GW clean energy by 2022

Ecoppia will open a production line of its unique robots that reliably clean solar panels from dust and dirt. India is determined to reform its energy production industry, to produce 100GW clean energy by 2022

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Ecoppia’s robot in action

Herzliya based Eccopia, developer of groundbreaking E4 solar panel cleaning system, announced opening a production line near India’s mega city of Chennai (Madras), in cooperation with Sanmina. Ecoppia’s CEO Eran Miller explained that “India remains our top market and the natural choice for us to build a state-of-the-art production facility”.

Ecoppia’s decision to open a new factory in India stems from the rapid growth of Indian solar power industry. India is in fact Ecoppia’s main market, with exponential growth prospects. The Indian Government has launched a program to support a gradual shift to renewable energy sources – mainly solar energy production. India has set an ambitious solar power target of 100GW by 2022. Solar Power production is planned to grow by 12GW in 2016-2017 and to increase slightly each year until the target is achieved.

Many experts doubt if India will achieve its very ambitious goal. Nevertheless, the State is expected to accelerate the deployment of solar panels (in solar farms and on rooftops), and in turn  to increase the demand for Ecoppia’s cleaning robots.

This massive shift brings many foreign investments. For example, Japanese Telecommunication Company SofBank and Taiwanese electronic manufacturer Foxcom intend to invest more than $20 billion in the Indian renewable energy market. Analysts estimate companies and foreign investors will invest as much a $300 billion in Indian renewable energy. “We are excited to take an important part in this revolution,” said CEO Meller.

Waterfree cleaning solution

The accumulation of dust, sand and dirt on solar panels is one of the challenges facing solar energy suppliers, and can reduce energy production by up to 40%. Most of the current solutions for the problem are based on the use of water and brushes. These solutions are water and labor force intensive, moreover – they often cause damage to the expensive and fragile panels.

India, like many countries suitable for large scale solar energy production, is facing water shortages. Ecoppia’s waterfree solution is therefore especially suitable. Its E4 robots clean the panels without the use of water using specially designed brushes. The robots operate overnight in order not to disrupt daytime energy production, removing 99% of accumulated dust.

The system is already widely used and cleans some 5 million panels each month. The cleaning system is managed using the Cloud, controlled by a remote control enabling centralized manegement of robots is different locations.

TECHTIME
An E4 system in the Arava energy production site in southern Israel

In 2015 Ecoppia signed a contract to supply Arava Power with its robotic cleaning system for its Southern Israel energy production site. The site produces 4oMW of solar power and is considered one of the one of the biggest and most advanced solar sited in the Middle East.

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Posted in: Energy & Environment , News

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