Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Solar utility installations in California that I’m familiar with employ fewer than 1 person per square km.



And how do they keep all those panels clean? Who maintains the transformers when they break? Who swaps out the panels as they reach their life expectancy? It isn't just the night watchman, but the entire community of people involved in any large outdoor installation.


Like any utility, you don't need a guy just hanging around waiting for the transformers to explode. You truck him in every 50 years when that actually happens. It's time domain multiplexing, essentially.


The cleaning is largely a solved problem too.. You don't need 50 $10k/year people with squeegees, you just need one person in a $50k truck.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-Road-tunnel-wal...


If there’s one job that robots are certainly going to take, it is solar panel squeegee guy.


And how do they keep all those panels clean?

Robots, like these from Ecoppia:

https://www.ecoppia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Product_D...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIH-C29N82o


Do they have problems with security? Try putting down any large piece of infrastructure in Africa - and careful that it doesn't get carried away.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: