Nov. 4, 2013 - SunPower Corp. today announced that it has acquired Greenbotics, Inc., a Davis, Calif.-based company. With this acquisition, SunPower expands its energy services portfolio for global customers with the SunPower Oasis Power Plant product, especially in markets with challenging dirt and dust environments. SunPower expects to utilize the robotic technology and the Greenbotics team in conjunction with other product development and large-scale solar field installation projects.
"SunPower's acquisition of Greenbotics and its CleanFleet robots will allow us to further maximize the proven system performance of our high efficiency, most reliable solar panels, which is critical to a project's economics and levelized cost of electricity," said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO. "Customers in markets such as the Western U.S., the Middle East and Chile will especially benefit, as dust and debris is a challenge and water is in shorter supply. We are very pleased to add the valuable services offered by Greenbotics to our energy services offerings."
The CleanFleet robots can be tailored specifically for each power plant to optimize a project's cleaning schedule. Most panels are cleaned at night to avoid disruption during the daytime, energy-producing hours. Regularly cleaning solar panels located in dry, dusty regions can increase annual energy production by up to 15 percent.
The Greenbotics acquisition is a cash transaction that is accretive to SunPower's results.