Solar Robot Heads To Jail

Reposted from Solar Love (with minor edits):

That has to be one of the most intriguing solar power headlines of the year. Fortunately, there’s nothing untrue about it (even if the story isn’t exactly what you have in mind).

QBotix (previously covered on CleanTechnica) combines robotics technology with solar power plants to improve the efficiency of solar projects. And its first commercial application is at Alameda County Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.

QBotix writes: “The power plant contains 32 QBotix trackers and single SolBot, a robot created by the company that angles solar panels toward the sun to increase energy production by more than 30%. The QTS-based power plant at Santa Rita will generate approximately 120,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. Signal Energy served as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor on the project. Construction of the entire plant took less than four working days. Wiring and commissioning took two additional working days.”


 
Hopefully the system works as intended and is picked up for use in future solar projects. Getting more electricity out of every $1 is always great!

By the way, if you’re all of a sudden curious about the jail and its decision to go solar, QBotix has more info on that, too:

“Santa Rita jail is California’s third largest detention facility and it consumes more energy than any other county government building. The solar power plant is part of a long-range plan to reduce peak power and energy consumption.”

For more info about the QBotix solar robot, check out the QBotix website.