The solar energy industry sparks AI innovation... Design and permitting shortened from 3 months to 1 month

Artificial intelligence technology is rapidly infiltrating the solar industry, playing a key role in automating complex permitting and design tasks. Community solar developer Novel Energy Solutions, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, has introduced AI agents to address the increasing engineering burdens caused by policy upheavals and multi-state regulations. Currently, over 100 projects are in development or construction, with Novel successfully completing 75 projects, including a 10 MW solar farm built for Minnesota’s largest electric cooperative.

The technology introduced by Novel includes Procore Technologies’ pre-built AI agents and the custom agent-building tool “Agent Builder.” Although still in early stages, AI has already made progress in improving design accuracy, automating document processing, and shortening project timelines. According to Project Engineer Kiarra Karyar, tasks previously performed manually—such as route cause analysis, design change tracking, and cost impact assessment—are now detected and handled in real-time by AI, reducing the risk of work omissions.

Particularly effective is AI’s ability to automatically scan site requests or design change documents to identify potential issues and correlate them with recurring regulatory problems or design oversights, thereby proposing solutions. For example, in one region, permitting issues related to battery storage devices repeatedly arose. Previously, identifying and integrating these into the design could take up to three months, but AI completed the same work in one month, significantly boosting productivity.

One of the main tangible results has been AI’s early detection of errors in “as-built drawings” submitted to local power companies, such as transformer specifications, preventing downstream delays. Karyar emphasizes that AI tracks and reflects omissions in design documents by comparing existing emails or meeting records, greatly reducing rework and additional permit delays during construction.

Currently, AI applications are still limited to question-and-answer modes, but future plans include evolving into more proactive “agent-driven work systems,” such as task allocation and automated report generation. To this end, Novel has adopted a “human-centered interface” that retains manual approval processes and plans to gradually expand automation across departments, explained Business Technology Director Andrew Smith.

Thanks to Procore’s centralized platform integrating all project information, AI can make more precise and contextually appropriate judgments. Smith states, “AI remembers when and how we wrote certain documents, so it operates based on full contextual awareness.”

While concerns about AI replacing existing jobs persist externally, the company views it as a tool for capability expansion internally. Karyar comments positively, “Technology doesn’t eliminate my role but guides me to redefine it in new ways.” In fact, company leadership firmly adheres to a human-centric operational principle, positioning AI as a workforce supplement and efficiency enhancer.

In the future, Novel also plans to extend AI agent applications to areas such as cost estimation, safety analysis, and cross-project data integration. Karyar states, “AI is extremely useful not only during engineering phases but also for cost risk management, risk control, and company-wide collaboration,” demonstrating a strong commitment to developing AI into a core competitive advantage.