Nevados taking orders for new Trace solar tracking solution

The Trace solution includes updated mechanicals, integrated software and controls to include features such as 75° hail stow. See it at RE+ in booth D24705.

September 11, 2024 Anne Fischer

Nevados trackers allow solar to be built on complex sites, with challenging terrain and the potential for differential settlement, without using environmentally destructive grading, which can threaten community acceptance for a project.

Image: Nevados

Nevados is taking orders for Trace, its next generation of All Terrain Trackers, designed to work with Earth’s topography, including steep and undulating terrain of up to 37% slopes.

Founder Yezin Taha noted in an article on pv magazine USA, that its All Terrain Trackers can accept angle changes of up to 15 degrees (26%) between posts, and bearings can handle maximum slopes of up to 20 degrees (37%), although standard piles are typically limited to installation on maximum slopes of 11 degrees (20%).

The Trace solution includes updated mechanicals, integrated software and controls to include features such as 75° hail stow, which reportedly reduces the probability of maximum loss (PML) from hail by up to 11X compared to 52° stow.

It also has a feature called Zero-Shade Backtracking that the company says improves energy yields. This feature schedules tracker rotation that takes into account the specific terrain profile, which Nevados says can reduce the terrain effects of shading by up to 50%.

Its bi-directional, automatic stow, results in up to 50% faster wind and hail stow, Nevados reports, avoiding the tracker from having to go through 0 degrees. Other features include flood, rain, and system protection stow protocols.

Other advantages to Trace include a 35% reduced part count and factory pre-kitting of components, which the company says makes the tracker faster to install.

Trace is the first tracker qualified for use with Milwaukee’s Controlled Torque Impact Wrench, for 3X faster bolt tightening proven in 2024 trials. And the tracker’s O&M dashboard by Nevados features a tracker management system, including access to historical records.

Nevados notes that maintenance benefits include a drive by Kinematics that doesn’t require greasing, and with no grading requirement—no re-vegetation is necessary.

Nevados is taking orders for the Trace All Terrain Tracker system now for delivery in Q2 2025. It can be ordered as a fully qualified domestic content tracker for the U.S. market. Versions produced overseas remain available for customers who don’t require U.S. domestic content.

Domestic content enables developers to qualify for the 10% additional tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. According to guidance released in May by the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, to receive the bonus, all manufacturing processes for steel and iron components and 40% of manufactured products must take place in the United States. Nevados reports that its domestic content trackers will fully comply with both Treasury’s new elective safe harbor and pre-existing direct cost requirements, helping developers qualify for a 10% domestic content tax credit, which is in addition to the 30% base investment tax credit.

The Trace system will be on display at Nevados’ RE+ booth D24705.

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