As technology continues to improve, many renewable energy developers are increasingly using automation to develop commercial-scale projects, such as solar and wind farms. Tech companies have made significant improvements to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic equipment in recent years, with different types of robots now available to perform a wide variety of tasks. This is reducing the burden on humans in the development phase of new renewable energy projects, with robots now capable of conducting tasks that may be dangerous for people to carry out, while reducing the operational cost.

In California’s Mojave Desert, AES has used a fleet of 3.0 robots from the firm Maximo to install 100 MW of solar capacity at its Bellefield solar complex, thereby reducing the need for manual labour. The Maximo robots, operated by humans, can install solar panels at a much faster rate than human teams, fitting 24 photovoltaic modules per hour per person on average, while the machines that assemble the solar panels take around one minute per panel to do so. That is around double the pace of traditional installation in the region.

“Reaching 100 MW is an important milestone for Maximo and for the role robotics can play in solar construction,” stated Maximo’s president, Chris Shelton. “It demonstrates that field robotics can move beyond experimentation and deliver consistent results at utility scale.”

The rising demand for electricity and rapid expansion of the energy market in the United States and other countries around the globe have led to a shortage of skilled labour, making automation key to completing new renewable energy projects. Many energy companies turned their attention to robotics during the Covid-19 pandemic, led by the oil and gas industry, when movement restrictions meant the companies increasingly needed to rely on automation.

It is not just the installation process in which robots can be useful, but in all phases of the project. Companies are using robotics for activities such as surveying, building and installation, and monitoring and evaluation. Also in California, Civ Robotics has developed a four-wheeled CivDot robot that can mark up to 3,000 layout points per day and is accurate within 8 millimetres, a task that would otherwise require huge teams of people working long hours to achieve. CivDot can traverse rugged terrain and work in all weather conditions. The company has over 100 CivDots in the field, most of which are being used by renewable energy firms.

“Our secret sauce and our core technology is actually in the navigation and the geospatial — being able to literally mark coordinates within less than a quarter inch, which is very, very difficult in an uneven terrain, outdoor surfaces, and out in the desert,” explains Civ Robotics’ CEO Tom Yeshurun. “The manual surveying equipment, if you use that in the field and you have three crews, they will need three land surveying handheld receivers. That alone is already equal to how much we lease our machines in the field, and all the labour savings are just another benefit,” Yeshurun added.

Greater automation is also being seen in wind farms, as companies invest in turbine maintenance robots. LEBO ROBOTICS, a Japanese startup established in 2018, developed the world’s first commercial wind turbine maintenance robots to inspect and repair turbines. The capacity of wind turbine generation can fall by between 3 and 10 percent in just three to five years due to accumulated damage, making the robots’ work invaluable. 

“Particularly in Japan, the United States, and Europe, where personnel costs are high, maintenance staffing and costs are a challenge… Using robots for maintenance enables a swifter response to the causes of generation capacity loss, keeping the equipment in an optimal state and delivering great benefits to the operating businesses,” explained LEBO ROBOTICS’ CEO Hamamura Keitaro.

The firm offers three services using robotics: blade inspection and maintenance, AI analysis of images taken by ground-based cameras and drones, and the development and deployment of chemical products like paint and adhesives. These activities all support wind turbine maintenance, ensuring that turbines can retain the best possible capacity through their lifespan.

Robotics are also increasingly being used for electricity grids. Companies, such as Spain’s Iberdrola, have been using AI for years to make predictions, optimise processes, and detect patterns to improve their operations. In 2025, Iberdrola announced that it was partnering with Levatas and Boston Dynamics to deploy a robot “dog” to improve substation inspections. The dog, known as Spot, is equipped with sophisticated imaging and thermal technology and uses AI technology to detect damaged equipment, allowing for automated inspections. 

Robots are being rolled out for a wide array of uses in renewable energy projects around the globe, a trend that is set to get even bigger as the technology improves. The use of robots is allowing companies to rely less on workers, as the industry faces labour shortages. However, the long-term impact of robotics and automation on the energy workforce is still uncertain.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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