Solavio Labs, a startup providing solar panel cleaning technology, has received ₹4.06 million (~56,044) in funding from the Canadian province New Brunswick through its New Brunswick Innovation Fund. With this investment, the company’s total funding stands at ₹20 million (~$276,057).

The company will utilize the investment to expand its footprint in the Middle East and North American market, Solavio said in a statement.

It also aims to scale up its manufacturing base in India with the production of 12,000 units by the end of the financial year 2021-22.

Suraj Mohan, Co-founder of Solavio Labs, said, “The recent funding by Canadian Province – New Brunswich via New Brunswick Innovation Fund is encouraging, and we intend to expand our manufacturing facilities in the country, to meet the global demand.”

Solavio is a Tamil Nadu-based startup that designs and manufactures modular autonomous solar panel cleaning bots, semi-auto bots, and motorized handheld brushes to clean solar photovoltaic panels. It received funding from three government bodies in India, Dubai, and Canada last year.

Solavio said that its autonomous solar panel cleaning bots were compatible with any solar panel. The cleaning bots also save 200,000 liters of water per MW/year.

The company has received orders from tier-1 developers for 100 MW of solar projects.

The company recently entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) where it commissioned its first set of autonomous cleaning bots at a 1.8 MW solar carport.

In December 2020, Solavio was selected for acceleration in the 2020 winter cohort by a Canadian accelerator Energia Ventures.

Robotic cleaning solutions are slowly gaining traction in India with several companies, both domestic and international, offering panel cleaning solutions.