Dan Shugar, NEXTracker CEO, on solar trackers in wind and the terror of torsional galloping
In the final part of our interview, Dan Shugar, goes into detail about a subject NEXTracker has studied in depth — static and dynamic evaluation of wind impacts on single-axis trackers. We include video of trackers (and a bridge) caught galloping in the wind.
Hardware brief: Solar panel cleaning robots, Humless’ 5kWh battery, IronRidge’s minimalist racking, more!
Intersolar is in a few weeks, so get your hardware press release out to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com. In the meantime, modules are holding under 20¢/W, and “large wafers” are coming in a year or three!
Morning Brief: Nautilus Solar acquires 31 MW, Lightsource BP buys racking by the bunch
Hello everybody, welcome back to the workweek and the morning brief. Today we;ve got 3 Big Things, and Arizona RPS proposal, a new CEO for Safari Energy and more!
Six-year-old solar power plant partially repowered with new trackers and bifacial solar modules
OCI Solar Power has upgraded a portion of its Alamo 1 solar power plant in Texas from 295 watt solar modules on ERCAM single- and dual-axis trackers to bifacial modules on Array Technologies trackers.
Deeper analysis of bifacial solar panel data – including greater cooling and how DC to AC ratios affect clipping
Soltec single axis tracker research shows greater production in a two-in-portrait configuration versus a single module by just over 2%, driven mostly by lower module temperatures as well hardware design adjustments.
Hardware Brief: Solar services, really fast module install, install of the week, module pricing flat, more!
Happy Thanksgiving y’all, hope you hugged someone this holiday. Friday – means solar hardware (and services!) – Solar Services advertising their inverter and engineering support, Gamechange installing modules really fast with a new clip, Sherin and Lodgen supported their first solar+storage and finance deal, Sungrow+Hanwha+NEXTracker in a Florida install, and a little bit more!
The Queen of Texas solar
Texas has a new largest installed solar project, as Innergex Renewable Energy’s 315 MWdc Phoebe solar farm has been completed.
Hardware Brief: 26.5¢/W modules, new silicon carbide inverters, dual axis tracker 4 year ROI, drones!!
Modules and inverters and trackers, oh my! PV InfoLink sees as low as 21¢/W modules on the spot market, Kaco has released a series of 1000V and 1500V inverters between 87 and 150 kW, Mechatron’s dual axis tracker took the place of a carport, and Drone Magnetic Survey Company has figured out that there’s a niche finding old wells and metal under solar fields!
MIT/NASA robot engineer raises $32 million for air-powered single axis trackers
Single axis solar tracking manufacturer Sunfolding, led by the mind of CTO Leila Madrone, has raised $32 million to expand operations surrounding the deployment of its three-component T29 system.
Hardware brief: 300hrs/MW install time, multicrystalline pricing at “historical” lows, power tools, more!
These are our tools, our advanced use of them sets us apart from the animals – so be good to your tools! Foen PV makes beautiful steel – some of it for solar, an earthquake caused a gas plant explosion, and Sensehawk is tying together many tasks via AI.
