Photo credit: Planted Solar
Armoracia Solar, a 7.3-megawatt project in western Illinois, almost didn’t get across the finish line. Despite the state’s status as one of the fastest-growing community solar markets in the country, the project ran into local concerns about land use and property values.
That opposition initially led a county zoning board to reject the project. But Armoracia, which first applied for permits in 2024, was acquired this week by Aligned Climate Capital, and is now on track to be energized later this year thanks in part to a Bay Area startup with a unique approach to designing and installing solar.
Planted Solar was brought into the project last year to leverage its software and robots to design high-density, terrain‑following arrays and automate the installation process.
The company’s approach drastically reduces the amount of land needed for a solar farm and eliminates site grading, which disturbs topsoil, slows stormwater permitting, and generally prevents the land under an array from being used. Instead, Planted relies on a digital twin of the site to design projects in dense, fixed rows that conform to existing hills and contours. Its solar-installing robots — custom-built tracked hydraulic machines — then drive around the existing, uneven ground, installing posts at the appropriate depth for the terrain following the digital twin.
