EDP tests the first intelligent digital automation platform for the operation and maintenance of solar parks
EDP, a global leader in the renewable energy sector, takes another important step at the forefront of the global automation trend. The company is testing, for the first time worldwide, fully autonomous operation and maintenance (O&M) interventions for solar parks. This is the pilot project named Scale Up O&M, consisting of an intelligent platform, specially developed by EDP, capable of analyzing data in real time and, based on it, sending commands to robots that autonomously perform inspection, cleaning, and vegetation cutting tasks in the solar park grounds.
With this new solution, EDP reinforces its commitment to efficiency, safety, and sustainability. Automating O&M activities allows for faster, more precise, and safer interventions, significantly reducing human exposure to challenging environments. Additionally, it addresses the growing difficulty in hiring specialized labor, especially in more remote or hard-to-access areas, while ensuring scalable solutions to support operational growth. It is expected that panel cleaning and vegetation cutting costs—which currently represent more than 20% of a solar park's operational expenses—will be reduced by up to 80%, depending on the local characteristics of each site, contributing to more sustainable and economically efficient asset management.
“For the first time, we tested at EDP a fully autonomous operation and maintenance solution in a solar park—a breakthrough that reinforces our commitment to concrete solutions to accelerate the energy transition. This innovation addresses an increasingly evident challenge in a rapidly growing sector, where the demand for megawatts is accelerating. The only way to meet this challenge is to significantly increase productivity by leveraging technology. More than a pilot project, this is a practical response to the challenges of efficiency, scale, and safety in operations. Investing in automation is investing in more accessible, more competitive, and more future-ready renewable energy. Because anticipating the future also means knowing how to transform it,” says Ana Paula Marques, executive board member of EDP and head of the platform managing the company’s renewable energy assets.
This pilot, underway at the Cruz de Hierro/Villacastín solar park in Spain, represents just the beginning of EDP’s ambition to integrate automation solutions into its global O&M operations. The goal is to transform this initiative into an integrated process that brings competitive advantages to all company operations. At the same time, it aims to enhance human capital by freeing teams for more qualified and strategic activities. The goal is to scale this technology to all parks that meet the defined eligibility criteria.
Step-by-step operation
To automate O&M operations in its solar parks, EDP integrates five distinct technological components that work in coordination. First, drones equipped with AI-supported software perform aerial inspections and accurately identify panels or areas with accumulated dirt or vegetation compromising energy production. This data is sent to EDP’s proprietary IoT platform, which analyzes the detected incidents based on SCADA data (such as tracker positions and real-time weather conditions), as well as forecasts for the next seven days, before deciding whether to activate the robots.
Once conditions are confirmed, the platform automatically assigns specific missions to cleaning robots, which autonomously move to the identified panels, and to vegetation-cutting robots, which operate in the identified areas. This ecosystem relies on a communications infrastructure installed in each park, essential to ensure connectivity in remote locations.
Unlike conventional approaches, which involve generalized and preventive interventions, this automated model allows for surgical actions, targeting only the identified problems, making the entire process more efficient, sustainable, and intelligent.
The Scale Up O&M pilot project follows the AutoPV initiative, launched last October, which tested the construction of its first large-scale photovoltaic solar park under real installation conditions using Hyperflex automation technology. The adoption of automated solutions in processes such as O&M in solar parks offers immediate efficiency gains while paving the way for continuous improvements. As EDP accumulates practical knowledge and leverages the experience curve, it becomes possible to progressively adapt and optimize operations, identifying improvement opportunities with each new implementation. This constant evolution results in more efficient management, with cost reduction, greater predictability, and competitiveness, reinforcing the role of innovation as a driver of transformation in the renewable energy sector.
Currently, more than 90% of all energy produced by EDP already comes from renewable sources, including solar, where the company has an installed capacity of over 6.2 GW. EDP, as a leader in the global energy transition, maintains its commitment to decarbonization and accelerating the energy transition with the goal of becoming net-zero by 2040.