Sequoia Solar Project Autonomous Robots Conquer Solar Project Nearly the Size of 3,000 Football Fields

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Near Texas, Sequoia Solar is becoming one of the largest PV projects in North America. However, before the facility can deliver 815 MW, 1.8 million solar panels must first be installed. Three autonomous robots, which have the potential to triple the installation speed, are helping with this task.

The Sequoia Solar Project in Callahan County west of Dallas is expected to deliver a whopping 815 megawatts upon completion. Phase 1 is scheduled to go online at the end of the year with 400 MW, followed by Phase 2 in 2026 with the remaining 415 MW. In order to achieve such capacity, which could power 1.8 million households for one hour, the facility must first be installed.

The Canadian company Enbridge, which is primarily realizing the project, is having around 1.8 million solar panels installed on an area of about 21 km². Equipping this space, comparable in size to nearly 3,000 football fields, with the highest precision requires not only the building components but primarily time and numerous workers.

Three of these workers come from the company Rosendin and, unlike their human colleagues, require hardly any breaks because they are autonomous robots. According to the engineers from Rosendin and ULC Technologies, these robots save the workers physical labor, thus increasing work safety, and they can position the heavy panels in a third of the time.

Robots Don't Rest

The autonomous system, which you can watch at work in the video above, consists of three robots, two of which carry the panels to the deployment site while a third places them. Considering that solar panels weigh around 66 to 99 pounds on average and one of the transport robots can carry 30 to 35 of them, we can already imagine that the robot crew saves a considerable amount of time. Additionally, the two carrier robots can continuously shuttle between the storage area and the worksite to reduce waiting times.

The robot that installs the panels uses an arm with air knives and nine suction cups to lift and position each panel. Skilled workers assist in guiding the panel and then attach the fittings and electrical connections.

Further advantages of the robots are that they can be used continuously and in high temperatures, as well as in other adverse weather conditions. They are also capable of handling slopes of up to 30 percent. The robots use LiDAR for obstacle detection and avoidance to tackle difficult terrain. With GPS and KMZ, they position the panels with an accuracy of 0.08 inches. Despite their autonomy, they still require support from human teams.

"In field tests for a similar solar project in Danevang, Texas, an installation rate of 350 to 400 modules per eight-hour shift was achieved with a two-man crew working alongside the robots; this is three times that of a standard crew of three to four people who install modules manually," it is reported. From the tests conducted in April 2025 at the Sequoia Solar Project, the inventors expect new opportunities for developing PV areas "previously considered too difficult for construction," according to David Lincoln, Senior Vice President of Rosendin. (sb)

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