April 3, 2023
Rooftop solar doesn’t work for all prospects, and standard ground-mount and carport solar buildings don’t match all websites and undertaking goals. This is the place elevated dual-axis solar trackers can come into play. Here to make the Pitch for elevated dual-axis trackers and the added worth they’ll present is Jeff Sharpe, Founder and COO of Stracker Solar.
0:29 – Overview of Stracker Solar as an organization
1:20 – Three worth provides of dual-axis trackers over single-axis trackers
2:19 – What is the inspiration/construction of a Stracker tracker?
2:57 – Details of the monitoring {hardware} and management system
5:00 – Failure factors?
6:12 – Key segments for dual-axis solar trackers
7:12 – Comparison of 200 kW dual-axis solar undertaking vs. rooftop solar
9:00 – Explanation of building and panel set up
9:38 – How to start out putting in Stracker trackers
Read a part of the transcript beneath, or watch the complete episode proper right here:
Commonly after we consider trackers, we’re considering of single-axis trackers that we see in these lengthy rows out within the subject that incrementally tilt and observe the solar. They require loads of inexperienced house. Elevated twin axis-trackers are completely completely different. They’re pole-mounted buildings. How a lot can an elevated dual-axis solar tracker assist by way of weight and kilowatts?
Trackers have not less than three worth provides over the everyday single axis system. First are pole mounting lets us set up in hilly or rocky terrains that may not be degree sufficient for these standard single-axis rows. Second, their 20-ft excessive management and actuator platform retains all of the mechanical and electrical programs effectively out of attain, so there’s no want for fencing.
And final however not least, their minimal 14-ft floor clearance permits continued use of the bottom beneath for actions that vary from farming with tractors and combines to industrial operations to high school yards to parking heaps the place there’s room for semis and buses and fireplace vehicles to move beneath. That’s due to their 15-ft minimal floor clearance.
Stracker foundations usually include a easy 30-in. diameter pier basis closely bolstered. The pole bolts to this basis so it may be relocated if wanted and Strackers are constructed of American-made metal. We can get as many as 10 on a truck and our present mannequin has an array of 28 450 Watt bifacial modules. So, they’ve a dc and an ac power ranking of 12.6 kW, and we’re seeing that the bifacial acquire is about seven % on prime of that.
Moving on to the monitoring a part of the dual-axis tracker, what’s the {hardware} and the way does that mechanism work?
The coronary heart of this monitoring system is our proprietary drive core that features slew drive actuators, electrical motors and a complicated management system. The drive core mounts proper on prime of the pole with a compact metal meeting and a structural bolting system. The management system incorporates the delicate, proprietary GPS-based algorithm. We don’t use any hydraulics, no linear actuators, simply exceptionally excessive energy actuators and electrical motors.
The trackers carry the coveted UL 3703 itemizing and are load examined for wind rankings of 120 mile an hour.
Taking all that into consideration, I assume that dual-axis trackers pole mounted like this implies you’re completely unconcerned about website constraints.
Being relieved of website constraints is certainly one of our price propositions, however actually the power of dual-axis monitoring is the flexibility to maintain that array pointed instantly on the solar. This is what offers Strackers their distinctive manufacturing effectivity. In this business that highlights one % effectivity will increase, Stracker’s 70 % we predict is really a sport changer. And their elevation retains them raised above typical mud flurries in addition to the shade of close by bushes and buildings and it gives a wider background for bifacial acquire.
What segments are you after?
We’re offering DG programs for the business and group solar markets, and we’re concentrating on the 200 kW to 2 MW undertaking vary. Our purpose is to supply a novel solar method for the EPCs to be extra aggressive and win extra tasks. We hope that by including our pole mounted trackers to their portfolios, EPCs can safe tasks the place websites would possibly in any other case have restrictions that make the normal choices not appropriate.
Can you give me an apples-to-apples instance of how a dual-axis solar tracker designed for a website compares to a rooftop or carport proposal? Let’s say it’s a automobile dealership wanting so as to add 200 kW.
For comparability of power manufacturing, let’s have a look at a 200 kW Stracker set up versus a typical 200 kW carport set up. We’ve been testing and have information right here at about our 40 diploma latitude of Ashland, Ore., the place we’re — concerning the latitude of Chicago — the place we’re utilizing the very same modules, very same inverters. The 200 kW Stracker set up, which by the best way is 16 Stracker models, produces 480 MWh per 12 months. If we take a carport system that we assume a 5 diploma south dealing with tilt, that system will produce 280 MWh per 12 months. From that, we see that the Stracker system produces a full 70 better energy manufacturing every year.
Now, to be honest in case you improve that tilt of that carport from 5 levels to fifteen levels someplace, then our energy harvest is simply 50 % better than the carport. But oftentimes we’ll see east-west dealing with carports at 10 levels, and that’s going to be equal to that 5 diploma south.
Strackers may even present a couple of 65 % decrease greenhouse fuel footprint per kilowatt hour produced, and that’s as a result of the power coming from the PV modules is elevated and every PV module accounts for greater than 90 % of the everyday PV system’s embedded carbon.
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