spring 2026 “You could say AI itself is becoming one of the big - gest clients given its energy consumption,” argues Mr Timmermans. The computing power required to run advanced AI models demands enormous data centres and, with them, a continuous, stable energy supply. He expects the most dramatic growth in the PV in - dustry to come from the world’s vast arid regions, such as Australia, India, China, the Middle East, North Afri- ca and Chile. These are the biggest deserts, where land is often effectively free as it cannot be farmed or devel- oped otherwise. “The perfect place to host utility-scale solar farms and produce energy at very low cost.” In parallel, AI helps SolarCleano add value and go beyond ‘just cleaning’. “We are incorporating cameras on top of our robots and generating insights for clients, for instance by telling them which panels have to be replaced,” says Mr Timmermans. In large-scale solar farms, where installations can include millions of pan- els, this capability is critical. The next frontier When he started the company, a 1-gigawatt solar park was considered gigantic; nowadays, SolarCleano ser- vices projects roughly 20 times larger. “Obviously, our robots had to evolve. One that cleans 2,000 panels per day is not enough for a power plant that has 3 million panels,” he explains. Bringing ideas to life requires a structured yet flexible organisation. SolarCleano’s R&D activities are divided into three core areas: mechanical engineering, au- tomation and artificial intelligence. Mechatronics teams design and build the machines, automation engineers develop the systems that enable them to operate autonomously, and AI specialists develop data- driven capabilities. R&D equals constant testing, and many ideas that look good on paper fail in production or deployment. “We make a lot of mistakes, and a lot of R&D money is thrown out the window, but that’s part of the game. You must get used to failing multiple times until you find the next break that will take you to the next level,” he admits. “For us, innovation is not about improving existing products, but about anticipating future needs.” © SolarCleano INNOVATION AND R&D