Arctech, a global provider of tracking, racking, and buildings integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), announced it has launched its latest solar tracking solution, called SkyWings. The tracker is a dual-row tracker designed with bidirectional slew drives and a multi-point drive mechanism.
The product combines the advantages of dual row solar trackers and is compatible with undulating terrain with high rigidity enabled by a multi-point drive design. The patented bidirectional slew drives allow two rows to move in synchronicity.
The undulation tolerance of adjacent rows has increased to 15% in both East/West and North/South directions. The modular design allows flexibility in plant layout design, accommodating more PV modules than conventional trackers in the same conditions, said Arctech.
SkyWings incorporates a multi-point drive mechanism and specially designed torque tube-the patented triple D torque tube, allowing for stowing in a horizontal position with the highest stability.
The rack allows modules to be stowed flat, which prevents cracking and delamination, particularly in newer large-format modules. SkyWings only starts stowing at 22m/s, which generates up to 2% more energy yield per year, leading to a lower levelized cost of energy.
The post span can be extended by 10 meters, which the company said can bring down installation costs by up to 20% and the entire engineering, procurement, and construction expenditure by up to 2%, compared to projects utilizing traditional 1P trackers.
The trackers are controlled by second-generation AI-assisted algorithms, calculating optimum tilt in various weather conditions and topographies. Arctech said the real-time shading avoidance can boost production by 8%.
In desert environments, the SkyWing tracker can be paired with Artech’s cleaning robot, SkyWe.
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Ideal for the north to south canals in California since they could be mounted over water and track the sun East to West. The 10 meters between posts could allow fewer anchors to be placed on the floor of the aqueduct so making expensive bridging structures, across the canal, un-needed. With hills to the west, the wings can be tiered toward the east in many locations along Highway 5 for less early morning shading.