As demand for new power accelerates, driven by AI, data centers, and electrification, the energy industry is facing a new kind of constraint. Where before it was just about designing efficient systems, now it’s about building them faster, more predictably, and with fewer resources in the field.
That’s the backdrop for our partnership with Planted.
Developers are under increasing pressure to deliver large-scale infrastructure despite labor constraints and compressed timelines. According to McKinsey, large-scale data centers now require thousands of skilled-trade workers on-site at the peak of construction, straining a labor pool already stretched by competing demand from battery plants and energy infrastructure1. The Shoals + Planted partnership is designed to address this challenge, not only for data centers, but also for critical community solar power infrastructure.
Together, Shoals and Planted are focused on solving one of the most pressing challenges in energy infrastructure today: how to scale deployment when labor is tight, timelines are compressed, and project complexity continues to increase.
“This partnership is about solving one of the industry’s most pressing bottlenecks: labor availability and speed to execution. By pairing Shoals’ plug-and-play electrical systems with Planted’s rapid deployment model, we are enabling customers to bring critical energy projects online faster.“
Karen Bazela
SVP of Sales for Solar, BESS, and Data Center Markets
Shoals Technologies Group
Bringing Technology Into the Installation Layer
For years, innovation in solar has focused on components: modules, trackers, inverters. But the next frontier is happening at the installation layer, where time, labor, and execution risk are concentrated.
Planted has built a deployment platform that combines software, standardized design, and automated installation methods to streamline how projects are built. Shoals complements this with factory-built, plug-and-play electrical systems that simplify wiring, reduce variability, and improve safety in the field.
When these approaches come together, the impact is straightforward: projects can be delivered faster, with fewer touchpoints, and with greater certainty from design through commissioning.
Shoals team member working on EBOS solutions at the new facility in Tennessee.
A Shift Toward More Integrated Delivery
The traditional model, where multiple vendors operate independently across engineering, procurement, and construction, is giving way to something more integrated.
Planted’s model brings together design, engineering, and deployment into a more cohesive system, standardizing around Shoals’ patented Big Lead Assembly (BLA) to remove friction in the build process.
This is part of a larger trend toward vertical integration and system-level thinking, where developers are prioritizing partners who can reduce complexity, limit interfaces, and deliver more predictable outcomes.
“Speed matters more than ever. Data center customers are operating on aggressive timelines, and labor constraints can be the difference between hitting or missing critical milestones. Shoals’ prefabricated solutions integrate seamlessly into our designs and allow us to deploy energy projects with far less on-site complexity, without compromising quality or reliability“
Jonathan Oakley
EVP of Commercial
Planted
Why This Matters Now
The urgency behind this shift is clear. Data centers, in particular, are accelerating demand for new power, and projects are being pushed to deliver at unprecedented speed. That demand is colliding with a constrained labor pool and increasingly complex project requirements.
The result is a new set of priorities:
Faster time to power
More standardized construction
Greater predictability in the field
Partnerships like Shoals and Planted are designed to address exactly that.
Looking Ahead
The next phase of energy infrastructure will be defined by speed, scalability, and execution certainty. That requires rethinking not just what gets built, but how it gets built. By bringing technology into the installation layer and supporting more integrated delivery models, Shoals and Planted are helping move the industry in that direction.
Reach out to us today to learn more about this collaboration, discuss your next project, or explore our solutions.
