Ávila, Spain, July 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Portuguese utility company EDP is testing an autonomous digital platform in Spain that could reduce solar farm maintenance costs by up to 80% and which it intends to expand to all of the group’s assets.
The pilot project for the automation of photovoltaic plant operation and maintenance, called Scale Up O&M, has now taken its first steps and the team is developing it at the Cruz de Hierro/Villacastín solar park. It combines drones with artificial intelligence, an EDP digital platform, and autonomous robots that operate in a coordinated manner in real-time.
The solution enables real-time analysis of operational and meteorological data, identifies dirt or vegetation that compromises energy production, and intervenes only where necessary, replacing preventive maintenance with localised actions, resulting in gains in efficiency, sustainability, and safety.
According to EDP, panel cleaning and vegetation cutting account for more than 20% of a solar farm's operating costs, and the new technology could reduce these costs by up to 80%, depending on the local characteristics of each farm.
In addition to savings, the platform also responds to the growing need to hire specialised labour, especially in remote or hard-to-reach areas.
“For the first time, we have tested a fully autonomous operation and maintenance solution at EDP in a solar park - a breakthrough that reinforces our commitment to concrete solutions to accelerate the energy transition,” explained EDP’s executive director, Ana Paula Marques, during the presentation of the project at the hybrid park in Spain.
“This innovation addresses an increasingly evident challenge in the sector: on the one hand, strong growth in demand, with more megawatts coming onto the grid. On the other hand, supply is constrained by demographic factors and the need for additional professionals,” she added.
The company intends to replicate the solution in solar parks that meet the defined criteria, freeing up teams for more strategic tasks and strengthening its commitment to the energy transition, according to the executive.
This innovation is now operational. In a vast, silent field on the outskirts of Ávila, where 50,000 solar panels shine under the Castilian sun, renewable energy production seems to happen by itself. And, for the most part, it does. At this EDP solar park, with an annual production of 112 gigawatt-hours – enough to supply around 30,000 homes – an invisible army of technology keeps everything running with pinpoint precision.
During a visit to the site, we observed a new model of operation and maintenance (O&M) that utilises artificial intelligence, drones, and robots to replace human labour. Early in the morning, drones equipped with advanced software fly over the panels in search of anomalies, such as dirt spots, excess vegetation, and unexpected shadows. They fly at a speed of four metres per second and can inspect all 25,000 panels in just a day and a half — a job that once required up to three months, according to Lisandro Molina, EDP’s head of robotics, who led the visit.
Algorithms analyse the images collected, cross-referencing expected production, the position of the panels and weather forecasts for the next seven days to determine where intervention is necessary.
That’s when the cleaning and cutting robots come into action, moving autonomously to the identified points.
One cleans the panels, while another cuts vegetation that threatens to shade them. Humans always supervise, as required by law. The team takes each step deliberately: EDP’s proprietary digital platform guides all decisions and manages data in real-time, thanks to a communications infrastructure set up on-site.
Unlike the traditional model, based on periodic rounds and general preventive interventions, this new approach focuses on surgical and highly targeted actions. The result is a more efficient, sustainable and intelligent process, according to EDP.
*** Lusa travelled at the invitation of EDP. *** SCR/ADB // ADB.
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