Photovoltaic Intelligent Operation and Maintenance: How Photovoltaic Cleaning Robots Increase Power Generation by 17%

In today's rapidly developing photovoltaic industry, the national installed capacity of solar power generation has reached 1.14 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 43.8%. However, the accumulation of contaminants on the surface of photovoltaic modules can lead to a power generation loss of up to 25%. How to achieve "value-added" growth of photovoltaic assets through intelligent means has become a focus of industry attention.

1. Technological Leap in Cleaning Operation and Maintenance

Traditional manual cleaning suffers from pain points such as low efficiency and incomplete coverage. Photovoltaic cleaning robots, through three core technologies—centimeter-level high-precision positioning, a multi-sensor obstacle avoidance system, and intelligent path planning—achieve precise operation on 25° slopes and overcome obstacles up to 50cm. Their fully automated cyclical operation mode truly realizes "unmanned operation," upgrading power station operation and maintenance from "human wave tactics" to "unmanned driving."

2. How the Robot Cleans

In addition to basic cleaning functions, the robot is also equipped with a remote video transmission and data acquisition system, which can monitor the status of the modules in real time. Through open interfaces, it seamlessly integrates with the existing systems of the power station, forming a complete closed loop of "cleaning-detection-diagnosis-treatment." The adaptive algorithm, refined through 213 field tests across 14 provinces, makes the robot increasingly intelligent under complex working conditions.

3. The Path to a 17% Increase in Power Generation

A real-world example shows that after introducing robots for regular cleaning, a power plant achieved a power generation of 501,000 kWh in January 2025, a 17.05% increase compared to the same period in 2024. This figure demonstrates the direct benefits of intelligent operation and maintenance, injecting "endogenous growth" momentum into power plant assets against the backdrop of stable electricity prices.

4. Industry Outlook

It is estimated that the cleaning demand of existing photovoltaic power plants in China alone creates a market space of approximately 400,000 units. Photovoltaic cleaning robots have applied for 24 invention patents, building technological barriers from the underlying control system. With the expansion of overseas markets and the maturation of the "drone + robot swarm" model, intelligent operation and maintenance is upgrading from an optional accessory to a standard feature of power plants.

Under the setting sun, photovoltaic cleaning robots moving along precise routes are quietly changing the operation and maintenance ecosystem of the photovoltaic industry. When the value of every ray of sunlight is maximized, photovoltaic power plants will no longer be static energy assets, but "intelligent power generation plants" capable of actively generating excess returns. The era of intelligent operation and maintenance has arrived.