One machine, one button, one workflow: X1 automates repetitive panel handling so installation crews can focus on alignment, fastening, and quality.
Xpanner, a US-based construction automation company, today announced the release of its X1 Panel Lift, an intelligent, excavator-based panel installation system engineered to address one of the solar industry’s most persistent constraints: the availability of skilled installation labor at scale. The platform, previously deployed on pile drivers for solar piling applications, has now been expanded to automate panel lifting and placement as well.
Utility-scale solar projects depend on large crews to manually carry, position, and place heavy panels across thousands of module locations. Such work is physically demanding, slows down as crews fatigue, and requires ongoing training to keep pace with project timelines. The X1 Panel Lift is designed to take on this repetitive material handling directly, allowing installation crews to spend their time on the higher-value work of aligning, fastening, and quality-checking each panel.
The system operates via a single excavator, eliminating the need for separate feeder equipment such as a compact track loader or forklift. By combining panel transport, pick, and placement into one machine, X1 reduces the number of pieces of equipment and specialized roles a project needs to keep an installation crew productive. Its one-button automated workflow guides the operator through the full installation sequence, pick-up, lifting, placement, and pre-release, through an intuitive visual interface that requires no specialized training, helping contractors staff and scale crews more easily in a tight labor market.
