Solar module cleaning robot raises $13m
Ecoppia, the Israeli-headquartered producer of water-free, robotic cleaning solutions for solar panels, has raised $13m to help fund expansion. Existing investors, including GlenRock, Gandyr and Swarth Group, led the round, and were joined by Harel Group Insurance and Finance, the largest insurer in Israel.
Ecoppia's cleaning robot, which is cloud-connected and uses no water, has been recognized by Deloitte as one of 2017's leading tech innovations.

Ecoppia, the Israeli-headquartered producer of water-free, robotic cleaning solutions for solar panels, has this week completed a $13 million funding round that will help steer its expansion efforts.

Existing investors in Ecoppia led the funding round, including GlenRock, Gandyr and Swarth Group, and now joined by Harel Group Insurance and Finance – the largest insurer in Israel.

The completion will help Ecoppia expand on an already noteworthy year in which it was ranked in the top ten of Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 50.

According to Ecoppia, over the past four years the company has posted growth of more than 1,600% as its cloud-based cleaning solutions have found a large target audience in the utility-scale markets of India, MENA, Latin America and Europe.

Next year, Ecoppia says that its pipeline is expected to top 2 GW, having already seen its solution clean its 200 millionth solar panel in 2017.

Leading ECPs and developers that have adopted Ecoppia’s solution include Adani Power, Terraform, EDF and India’s NTPC.

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According to Harel Group, which is now a backer of the firm, Ecoppia’s cleaning solution – which the company claims can remove 99% of dust on a panel daily without any water required – has been a game-changer for the industry.

“They’ve successfully identified a critical need in the solar industry and created a reliable and cost-effective solution that contributes to lowering LCOE worldwide,” said a Harel Group spokesperson.

The Ecoppia solution’ cloud connection links it instantly to advanced data analysis, meaning the machine learns on the job, and can therefore offer an optimized level of performance for each plant, the company states.

The extra cash raised in this latest funding round will, said Ecoppia CEO and co-founder Eran Meller, enable the company to “continue serving the largest energy players in the world, meeting the requirement of the top financial institutions involved in cleantech, and the growing demand of our pipeline”.