Robotics company Luminous has secured AUD 4.9 million in funding as the inaugural winner of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) AUD 100 million Solar ScaleUp Challenge. The grant will support the rollout of LUMI, the company’s AI-driven robot that automates the labor-intensive task of solar panel installation, speeding it up by up to 3.5 times. 

Luminous says its LUMI robot autonomously places solar modules onto racking structures, enabling onsite workers to complete the securing process. It is aimed at reducing manual labor while also enhancing speed, safety and thus bringing down costs for utility-scale projects.   

Although LUMI has previously showcased cost savings on solar farms within the US, it said that the ARENA project represents the inaugural global deployment of a complete fleet of 5 LUMI robots. It can reduce solar farm expenses by as much as 6.2%.

The company has joined hands with global EPC firm Equans to deploy LUMI at 2 Australian solar farms, namely the 440 MW Neoen Culcairn Solar Farm in New South Wales and the 250 MW Engie Goorambat East Solar Farm in Victoria. 

“ARENA has set an ambitious goal to reduce the installed cost of solar to 30 cents per watt and bring the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) below $20 per megawatt hour,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller. “Solutions like LUMI are key to reducing costs and maintaining Australia’s leading role in the development and innovation of solar technologies.”

ARENA launched the Solar ScaleUp Challenge in June 2024 to realize its Ultra Low-Cost Solar (ULCS) vision by tackling the cost challenge of large-scale solar deployment. It previously awarded AUD 1.3 million to Built Robotics Australia to build its autonomous piling robots project, and AUD 1.97 million to PV Lighthouse for its SunSolve yield modeling software (see ARENA Commits AUD 3.2 Million To Drive Down Solar Costs With Software Solutions).