At the 15th (2021) SNEC Exhibition, Renjie Intelligent, established in 2019, showcased itself as an innovative enterprise focusing on integrated intelligent cleaning solutions for photovoltaic power plants. In 2020, it obtained the first domestic certificate for photovoltaic intelligent cleaning robots issued by the China General Certification Center (CGC). In addition, the company also received the CE certification and CB certificate for photovoltaic intelligent cleaning robots awarded by TÜV SÜD Greater China.

For a relatively young company to gain recognition from multiple professional institutions, Renjie Intelligent’s marketing director Li Yuezhou believes this stems from their continuous technological innovation and refinement. As early as 2017, Renjie Intelligent began dedicating itself to the R&D of photovoltaic intelligent cleaning robots. Each product undergoes 3–4 years of development and optimization before being launched to the market. Currently, scientific research personnel account for over 40% of the company’s total workforce.

For photovoltaic power plants, dust pollution is a major factor affecting power generation, making module cleaning especially important in operations and maintenance. Many enterprises have targeted this market, entering the R&D and manufacturing of PV cleaning robots.

In the face of intense market competition, Li Yuezhou stated that Renjie Intelligent continuously improves the reliability of its cleaning robots through technological innovation while reducing product usage costs, ultimately helping customers increase return on investment. This, he believes, is the most important reason Renjie Intelligent has stood out in the industry.

It is reported that a single Renjie Intelligent cleaning robot can clean approximately 2,000 square meters (equivalent to about 0.4 MW) of PV modules per hour. If cleaning robots are incorporated into the power plant design during the construction phase and applied on a large scale, the investment cost can be reduced to around USD 0.001 per watt, significantly lowering both investment and operation and maintenance costs.

Li Yuezhou noted that PV cleaning robots have a significant impact on improving power generation. In a pilot project of China Three Gorges New Energy in Weishan, Shandong, Renjie Intelligent cleaning robots were deployed, and after one year of operation, the average annual power generation increased by 14%. “Intelligent cleaning robots should become a standard option in PV power plant operations and maintenance!”

High-Quality Service Is the Fundamental Principle

Currently, common cleaning methods for photovoltaic power plants include manual cleaning, semi-automated equipment cleaning, and fully automated robotic cleaning. Cleaning robots far surpass manual cleaning in both efficiency and cleanliness.

Li Yuezhou compared different cleaning methods: “Cleaning robots can clean PV power plants every day, whereas with manual methods, many plants are cleaned only four times a year. Even well-maintained plants can only achieve cleaning once a month.”

Although cleaning robots offer high cleanliness and low cost, large-scale adoption has been limited due to insufficient product stability and intelligence levels from some manufacturers. In addition, many domestic cleaning robot companies are small in scale and lack the ability for sustained operations.

Addressing these industry pain points, Li Yuezhou said: “The cleaning robots developed by Renjie Intelligent feature very stable structures. In terms of intelligent control and services, all robots are connected to a dedicated backend service platform that enables real-time status monitoring. When a robot encounters an obstacle, the remote monitoring system can quickly assess the situation and resolve issues promptly through the after-sales service team. The backend system can also assign numbers to PV module rows, accurately identifying the robot’s status on each module, making it easier for operations personnel to provide services.”

Intelligent Solutions Cleverly Address Rooftop PV Cleaning Challenges

To achieve the ‘3060’ carbon goals, the development of distributed rooftop photovoltaic systems has become an inevitable trend, bringing with it significant rooftop cleaning challenges. Due to limited load-bearing capacity and high operational difficulty, manual cleaning may damage rooftops, while water is particularly corrosive to rooftop PV systems, making the use of cleaning robots essential.

Renjie Intelligent has introduced two solutions: for relatively uniform rooftop layouts, traditional cleaning robots combined with shuttle systems can significantly reduce costs; for commercial and industrial rooftops, tracked cleaning robots have been launched.

Currently, Renjie Intelligent is developing new solutions specifically for distributed PV rooftops. Focusing on the PV cleaning field, the company has introduced not only semi-suspended cleaning robots but also semi-automated robots and tracked cleaning robots. Li Yuezhou stated: “In the future, the company will continue to increase R&D investment to promote the development of the cleaning robot industry, making PV power plants cleaner and generating more electricity. This has always been Renjie Intelligent’s vision and goal.”