Renova Energy started in 2006 as a $500 startup and a solar integrator. It's now about 300 employees out of its Palm Desert location. As the company grew, Renova's owner and CEO saw a need for maintenance after installation, especially in the desert climate, and in 2009 Renova launched a cleaning and service division, washing panels with backpack sprayers and small pressure hoses. That division is now 48 technicians and 30 vans, nine of them dedicated solely to panel washing.
The move to drones started with a text message. Renova's CEO saw a Lucid Bots drone on a news segment out of Indiana, washing buildings, and told Scott Perez this was the future. Doing an internal case study on the business last summer, Renova found their traditional method, technicians walking Spanish clay and stack tile roofs, was breaking a significant amount of tile, leading to awkward calls back to customers and repair visits. They looked at other drone providers but kept coming back to Lucid Bots on build quality.
The efficiency difference showed up immediately. A typical system is 35 modules. Cleaning that with a pressure washer and squeegee runs 45 minutes to an hour including setup. With the drone, that same appointment is done in 20 minutes max, with about 5 minutes of actual flight time. Crews spend far less time at a customer's home, water usage is down, and the drone's downforce dries the modules as it goes, cutting the manual dry-off step traditional cleaning requires.
Renova compared several drone providers before settling on Lucid. The technology mattered, but the deciding factor was the relationship. Scott could call or email his Lucid rep, Anthony, and get a fast response, and the support didn't stop after the sale, with regular check-ins on how things were going.
"It's incredible how much more efficient we're noticing that we are. An average system is 35 modules. If you're doing that a traditional way with a pressure washer and a squeegee, you're at the appointment 45 minutes to an hour with setup time. With the drone we're looking at a total of 5 minutes of flight time, if that. That appointment's done, completed, in 20 minutes max."
"We weren't just buying a drone, we were kind of buying a relationship also with Lucid. Anthony was very open and honest with us. He said, why do you want a drone? Are you an established business? Because I know you want to sell drones, but you also don't want to sell drones to people that aren't going to be successful. I really felt that he cared about my investment."
