Why Solar

Energy for Everyone

Power to the Planet

The largest solar buildout in history is here. The United States is ramping up solar deployment at a record rate to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Utility-scale solar is now the nation’s energy source of choice, surpassing even traditional fossil fuel options.1

The Rise of Solar

Other
4%
Coal
27%
Natural Gas
36%
Wind
25%
Solar
4%

2010

Other
3%
Natural Gas
32%
Wind
37%
Solar
27%

2015

Natural Gas
21
Wind
38%
Solar
41%

2020

Other
8%
Natural Gas
16%
Wind
33%
Solar
43%

2021

Other
12%
Natural Gas
18%
Wind
24%
Solar
46%

2022

Other
5%
Natural Gas
24%
Wind
17%
Solar
54%

2023

The Lowest Cost Source of Energy

$319

Savings per year
Utility-scale solar is now the cheapest source of energy. Compared with natural gas, the average American family could save $319 every year by switching to solar.2
Glamour shot solar array

The Workforce Gap

Utility-scale solar is vast. To successfully transition to a decarbonized grid, the industry needs to recruit new talent and equip them with the skills and technologies to accelerate solar deployment.

Building a 200 MW Farm

Workforce gap graph

Labor Needs to Only Grow

140,000

Workers needed4
The need for new hires required in utility-scale solar grows year by year. The current pipeline of workers required leaves a gap that needs methods such as automation to solve.

Autonomy Bridges the Workforce Gap

Robots offer a way to bring clean energy to everyone. Every solar power plant requires tough, repetitive work that can take months or years to complete using traditional means and methods. With autonomy, contractors can leverage both their team’s field experience and cutting-edge AI technology to ease the pressures of a tight workforce.

Safety

Safely work alongside robots with a robust, multi-layered safety system that keeps your workforce out of harm’s way.

Speed

Utilize robots for repetitive work to move your best operators onto higher-value, more complex tasks.

Scalability

Maintain seamless cross-team communication and track productivity with a single, cloud-based application.
Reo working next to rpd 35
1
Piles one in focus
2
Rps rpd working together
3
Rpd 35 glamour shot
Utility solar construction is ripe for disruption, and automation will be critical to get us to our clean energy goals. Automation in solar farm construction — for example pile driving — frees up skilled labor to focus on more complex tasks and increases the speed and accuracy of building power infrastructure.
Tyler Parker, as quoted in Forbes
Global Renewable Energy
Black & Veatch
Tyler parker wide

Graph values less than 2% are not depicted.

  1. SEIA, “Solar’s Share of New Capacity has Grown Rapidly.” (Accessed June 23, 2022).

  2. Lazard, “Levelized Cost Of Energy, Levelized Cost Of Storage, and Levelized Cost Of Hydrogen.” (Accessed June 23, 2022).

  3. Numbers represent total materials and labor required for a 200 MW solar farm. Calculations are based on Built’s internal database of projects in the United States that utilize Nextracker tracking systems and First Solar PV modules.

  4. SEIA, “National Solar Jobs Census 2022.” (Accessed Dec 4, 2023). Calculation includes projected calculations using SEIA data and projects from NREL’s Solar Future Study data.