Airtouch Solar Wins Key Deal With Hero In India

Israel based robotic cleaning solutions firm Airtouch Solar continues to expand its Indian footprint. The company reports today that its wholly owned subsidiary signed agreements with customers, including an existing client Hero Future Energies, for the sale and maintenance of water-free robotic cleaning solution for solar panels in the clients’ solar field in India. This follows the company’s report from end of April of a transaction with a new customer – a solar developer in India. Besides Israel, Airtouch has a production plant in India also.

Srivatsan S Iyer , Global CEO of Hero Futures Energies: had this to say “Using Airtouch’s robotic solutions for dry cleaning of solar modules at our Bhadla plant has boosted our operational efficiency. The solution is economical, easy to implement and optimizes losses due to soiling. By deploying these robots, we have been able to save a valuable 4.5 Million Gallons of water annually, besides experiencing significant gains in generation and revenue and a much faster cleaning cycle.”

Yanir Allouche, Chairman of Airtouch Solar said  “We view India as a major global market for Airtouch products and are happy to update on a second transaction in this market within the last few days. We are currently reporting on new agreements with India customers, including the Hero conglomerate, which has chosen to expand its collaboration with Airtouch based on the positive experience gained with our robots and our services. Hero is a strategic client with the potential to continue expanding its collaboration with us. The factory we launched last year in India supports the continued expansion of our operations in the country.”

According to Airtouch, the reported transaction will yield revenues of approximately USD 0.94 million, to be paid at several milestones in the process of the delivery and installation of the systems, and afterwards over a period of 25 years while providing operation and maintenance services. The company expects the supply and installation of the robots to be completed this year.

At the end of April, Airtouch reported an additional transaction of approx. USD 0.44 million with a solar developer in India for the sale, supply, installation, operation and maintenance for over a period of 25 years of Airtouch AT 3.0 robotic water-free robotic cleaning systems. Airtouch expects the installation of the systems to be completed during the year of 2022.

In the company’s assessment, the dry (water-free) robotic cleaning solution that it developed is an ideal solution to the problem of dust accumulation on solar panels. The target market for robotic cleaning solutions is estimated at $11 billion for year 2025, while approx. 95% of the market is currently operating without a robotic cleaning solution.

Founded by Yanir Allouche in 2016, Airtouch Solar is among the slew of Israeli startups that have targeted the clean energy space with niche applications. Airtouch of course was preceded by Ecoppia, a global leader in Robotic solar cleaning solutions.  Large solar parks in drier areas, and water shortages means India is a thriving market for these firms as solar continues to ramp up across the country.