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EDP is testing an autonomous digital platform in Spain, aiming to reduce solar park maintenance costs by up to 80%. This technology is set to be expanded across all of the company’s assets.
The Scale Up O&M pilot project, designed for the automation of photovoltaic plant operations and maintenance, is being trialed at the Cruz de Hierro/Villacastín solar park. It integrates drones, artificial intelligence, a digital platform from EDP, and autonomous robots operating in real-time coordination.
This solution allows for real-time analysis of operational and weather data, identifying dirt or vegetation that may hinder energy production, and facilitates targeted interventions, replacing preventive maintenance. This method enhances efficiency, sustainability, and safety.
EDP states that panel cleaning and vegetation cutting account for more than 20% of a solar park’s operational costs. The new technology could lower these expenses by up to 80%, depending on specific local conditions.
Beyond cost savings, the platform also addresses challenges in hiring specialized labor, particularly in remote or hard-to-access areas.
“For the first time, we’ve tested a fully autonomous operation and maintenance solution in a solar park at EDP—an advancement reinforcing our commitment to concrete solutions for accelerating the energy transition,” remarked EDP Executive Director Ana Paula Marques during the project’s presentation at the hybrid park in Spain.
“This innovation addresses a clear challenge in the sector: on one hand, a growing demand with more megawatts connecting to the grid, and on the other, a supply limited by demographic factors and a scarcity of professionals,” she added.
The company plans to replicate this solution in solar parks that meet the defined criteria, allowing teams to focus on more strategic tasks, further supporting their commitment to the energy transition, according to Marques.
This innovation is already operational. In a vast and quiet field on the outskirts of Ávila, where 50,000 solar panels gleam under the Castilian sun, renewable energy production seems to occur effortlessly. To a large extent, it does. At this EDP solar park, producing 112 GWh annually—enough to supply approximately 30,000 homes—an invisible army of technology keeps everything running with pinpoint precision.
During a site visit, the new operation and maintenance (O&M) model was observed, where human labor is replaced by artificial intelligence, drones, and robots. Early in the morning, drones equipped with advanced software fly over the panels searching for anomalies: dirt spots, excessive vegetation, unexpected shadows. They travel at four meters per second and can inspect 25,000 panels in just a day and a half—a task that previously took up to three months, according to EDP’s head of robotics, Lisandro Molina, who led the visit.
The collected images are analyzed by algorithms, which correlate expected production, panel positioning, and seven-day weather forecasts, determining whether and where intervention is necessary.
Next, cleaning and cutting robots autonomously move to the identified points. One cleans the panels, another cuts vegetation that threatens to cast shadows—always with human supervision, as required by law. Every step is deliberate: all decisions are guided by EDP’s proprietary digital platform, managing data in real-time through an on-site communication infrastructure.
Unlike traditional models based on regular rounds and generalized preventive interventions, this new approach emphasizes precise and highly targeted actions. The result is a more efficient, sustainable, and intelligent process, EDP assures.
