Solar tracker supplier Nextracker has launched a new solar tracker foundation system, NX Anchor.
PV Tech was in attendance at an event yesterday (September 09) where Nextracker presented its latest product, which was held to coincide with the opening day of the RE+ multi-technology clean energy trade show taking place in Anaheim, California.
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NX Anchor has been designed to optimise ground-mount solar PV project development for soft and reactive soils (expansive and frost-heave).
In addition to unveiling a new solar foundation system, Nextracker also announced NX Foundation Solutions, which includes some of the company’s latest acquisitions in the solar foundation business, such as Ojjo and Solar Pile International (SPI).
In June, the company acquired US-based solar foundation company Ojjo to expand its utility-scale PV foundation business. Ojjo’s foundation system covers rocky, mixed, and hard-rock soils.
A month later, Nextracker acquired US-based solar PV foundations supplier Solar Pile International (SPI) for US$48 million. Similar to NX Anchor, SPI’s foundation system caters best to softer and more expansive soil conditions, as well as sites that experience frost heave.
Among the services in Nextracker’s NX Foundation Solutions is support from Ojjo’s Truss Driver, the company’s pile-driving machine.
“This enables us to be able to address the complete spectrum of geotechnical and ground conditions that exist in the world,” said Dan Shugar founder and CEO of Nextracker, during the event that showcased both Ojjo’s foundation system, the Earth Truss, and Nextracker’s NX Anchor.
Shugar added: “NX Foundation Solutions provide our developer and EPC customers with a full range of technologies and services across a broad range of soil types from rocky to soft and virtually everything in between.”
Regarding the recent acquisitions of Ojjo and SPI in the foundation business, Sol Hutson, GM of Foundation Solutions at Nextracker, told PV Tech that these were aimed at offering solutions to increased geo-technical challenging conditions for traditional foundations to solve in a cost-effective way.
“We’ve made these investments to really bring those solutions for those conditions into the forefront and really scale them,” added Hutson.
Developing and building solar PV projects in the US is becoming more challenging as there are fewer favourable sites available, either due to the type of soil or because of non-uniform slopes.
Stephen Jones, President of Renewables, Primoris Services Corporation, said: “These solutions can streamline the design, procurement, and installation process while reducing the risk profile born by EPC contractors and developers. We believe the industry will benefit.”
According to Nextracker, its foundations can result in up to 50% less steel and up to 70% shallower embedment depth than traditional pilings.
