US solar tracker manufacturer Array Technologies will deploy its OmniTrack terrain-following tracker system at a 260MW solar PV project being developed by Turkish company Pekintas.
Located in the Ayranci district of Karaman province in Turkey’s Central Anatolia region, the project is being developed by Pekintas in partnership with German solar technology provider Schmid Group under their joint venture Schmid Pekintas.
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Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the project are being delivered by Schmid Pekintas Investment Energy, a subsidiary of Pekintas.
STC Solar, Array’s value-added reseller, will supply the technology and carry out mechanical installation at the plant. Meanwhile, Schmid Pekintas will deliver the modules using tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon+) solar cells manufactured by P-Tech Solar.
“This project will be the first in the YEKA program in Turkey to operate using high efficiency TOPCON+ cells produced with the combined industrial excellence of Pekintas Group, and we aim for the facility to exceed performance and output standards,” said Ozhan Olcay, chairman of Pekintas Group.
It is Array’s first deployment under Turkey’s Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynak Alanları (YEKA) programme. Launched in 2020 by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the programme aims to quadruple Turkey’s wind and solar capacity to a combined 120GW by 2035. As a part of the YEKA initiative, the project will incorporate locally manufactured components designated for the Karaman site.
According to Array, its OmniTrack terrain-following system is designed to reduce the need for ground grading by adapting to natural land contours, lowering construction costs and limiting environmental impact, particularly suited to Turkey’s complex project terrains.
The project will also incorporate the company’s SmarTrack software suite, including diffuse weather response, which uses real-time irradiance data to optimise output under cloudy conditions, and terrain adaptive backtracking, which adjusts tracker angles to reduce shading and maximise generation on sloped sites.
Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Array has installed or been awarded more than 96GW of solar tracker capacity globally. Last year, the solar tracker manufacturer announced that two of its tracking systems were compatible with 2,000V solar applications.
Testing conducted by UK-based certification body Intertek confirmed that the company’s DuraTrack and OmniTrack systems complied with UL Solutions standards 3703 and 2703 for 2,000V systems without requiring additional modifications.
