SunLink claims 150% growth in 2017 shipments

Following a boom in 2016 driven by the scheduled drop-down of the Investment Tax Credit, the U.S. solar market fell an estimated 22% last year, with the utility-scale segment showing the largest declines.

However, some companies are still reporting a brisk business. Today SunLink reported that it grew installations of its mounting systems and tracker solutions by 150% in 2017, with cumulative installations of product by the end of the year surpassing 2 GW.*

The company estimates that it grew deployments of its fixed-tilt mounting solutions four-fold, despite an increasing number of projects moving away from such solutions and towards tracking systems. SunLink reports the most growth for its GeoPro fixed-tilt solution in the Midwest and Southeast, two areas that are showing growth while other regions such as the Northeast slow down.

One of the factors cited by the company for the success of GeoPro is its resistance to wind, noting that the solution is designed to withstand wind speeds of more than 150 miles per hour.

If anything SunLink has seen greater success with its tracker solutions, and estimates five-fold growth for shipments of these products in 2017. Here the company cites the use of its Vertex tracker intelligence platform, which provides real-time data backed by sensors and can provide tracker performance data at the row level.

* Editor’s note: As SunLink is private company, it is not subject to the same level of legal scrutiny regarding its claims as publicly traded companies are.