Solar tracker supplier Nextracker has unveiled three new products aimed to address hail storms, undulating terrain and rapid change in atmospheric conditions.
The new products were built to give a solution to some of the biggest challenges Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors and solar PV owners face.
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Built on the features from Nextracker’s NX Horizon smart solar tracking system, NX Horizon Hail Pro is designed to faster react to hail storms with a design allow trackers to automatically stow, even in the event of a grid outage and without the requirement of a manual operator.
“Getting insurance in hail prone geographies like Texas is an increasingly challenging issue solar project developers and owners face today,” said Michael Alvarez, COO and co-founder of Longroad Energy.
A PV Tech product review of NX Horizon Hail Pro can be read here.
The second product doubles the capabilities of the company’s NX Horizon XTR terrain following tracker aimed at uneven terrains. The new product, NX Horizon XTR-1.5 significantly reduces and even eliminates earthwork on extreme terrain sites, without complex joints or additional components.
This would allow for projects to reduce the use of steel normally required and accelerate the construction time of a project, while reducing environmental impact.
Dan Shugar, Nextracker founder and CEO, said: “The suite of hardware and software technologies launched today benefits customers by accelerating construction, reducing risk in extreme hail, and generating more energy in rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. These technologies deliver improved solar project profitability and expand the geographic areas where solar is cost effective, furthering our vision of a world powered by renewables.”
Furthermore, the latest product unveiled by the company builds upon its TrueCapture yield optimisation and control software with Zonal Diffuse.
The new tracking function is aimed to further improve energy generation of a plant on rapid change of irradiance conditions. Countries with tropical weather such as Guatemala in Central America or Colombia in South America, are prone to fast change of radiation due to the fast movement of clouds.
Nextracker’s new technology will allow for projects to adjust trackers based on the variations in clouds across the entire power plant.
The release of new products from Nextracker comes as the company continues to increase its facilities in US soil with the opening of a tracker component manufacturing line in California last month, and commissioned a fourth steel manufacturing plant – in Memphis, Tennessee – in partnership with MSS Steel Tube USA, a joint venture subsidiary between Portuguese Metalogalva Group and Soufer Group of Brazil.