Solar-Robot Maker QBotix Names Miskovsky Chief Executive Officer

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — QBotix Inc., a closely held
supplier of robotic systems for solar farms, named Mike Miskovsky chief executive officer to succeed founder Wasiq Bokhari.

“I’m joining because I’m convinced the company is right on
technology,” Miskovsky said yesterday in a telephone interview.
“The first order of business is to begin building out the
commercial capability of the company and usher in the era of
scaling.”

Bokhari will remain executive chairman of the Menlo Park,
California-based company. Miskovsky previously was CEO of Zep
Solar Inc., a producer of rooftop-solar mounting equipment that
was acquired in October by SolarCity Corp. for about $158
million. He’s also worked as the U.S. president and general
manager for Guelph, Ontario-based Canadian Solar Inc.

QBotix’s battery-powered robots ride around solar arrays on
rails, tilting panels toward the sun throughout the day to
maximize power generation. The company has agreements to supply
its technology to photovoltaic systems totaling more than 80
megawatts of capacity.

With QBotix and Zep “there’s a common heritage for
innovation that stands to dramatically change the economics of
solar,” Miskovsky said. “In both cases, they fundamentally
turned the industry on its head.”

QBotix has received at least $24 million from backers
including EON SE, Iberdrola SA, New Enterprise Associates Inc.,
Firelake Capital Management LLC and Draper Nexus Ventures.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Robin Saponar

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