Nextracker First To Reach 50 GW Solar Tracker Shipments Globally

Nextracker™ has announced the crossing of the 50 gigawatts (GW) in global shipments for it. The achievement makes it the first solar tracker firm to get there, and marks the relevance of a technology that is on the ascendance once more, as more efficient modules hit the market. The 50 GW figure is equivalent to the  peak electricity demand of California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, says the firm. During Nextracker’s six-year run as the global market leader in its sector, the company’s technology has boosted the power output of major solar power plants in 40 countries across six continents.

Company officials credit its rapid sales growth to focusing on superior financial returns for owners of solar power plants. Adapting to new market needs with relevant products, as it did with its TrueCapture smart control software, has also enabled it to expand faster.

“Our executive leadership team draws from decades of experience as solar developers, builders, and operators of solar power plants,” said Nextracker CEO and Founder Dan Shugar. “That enables us to understand that plants need to produce maximum energy, have very efficient construction metrics, and lower maintenance costs. We then incorporate customer feedback to deliver value across that spectrum.”

Nextracker has invested in technology innovations that boost power output and reduce costs for power plant owners, including:

• The NX Horizon™ solar tracker, with best-in-class performance, reliability, and the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), also features a balanced mechanical design that delivers superior bifacial energy production and has been deployed more than any other tracker in the world
• Its signature, TrueCapture™ smart control software that helps utility-scale solar power plants mitigate drops in power output triggered by cloud cover or when one row of panels casts a shadow over panels in neighboring rows
• The company’s latest advancement is the Split Boost algorithm, which optimizes energy yield for split-cell silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules.

TrueCapture software sales alone have grown to 20 GW, implemented in over a third of the company’s global projects. This control software promises to enhance power output with up to six percent energy gains, delivering financial benefits to more than 150 solar plants globally to date. Nextracker also pioneered independent row architecture that facilitates solar panel cleaning and vegetation management for lower site operating and maintenance costs.

Notable projects that have used Nextracker include: Permian Solar in Texas (500 MW), Villanueva in Mexico (835 MW), Travers Solar Plant in Canada (691 MW), Sol do Cerrado in Brazil (766 MW), New England solar farm in Australia (520 MW), and Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai (1 GW).

In India, while the high cost of tracker costs was seen as a disadvantage till recently, the shift to Mono PERC and even Bifacial Modules means that the extra efficiency enhancements that trackers can deliver is making sense once again, for large utility scale projects. Aligned to the country’s ambitious solar targets, that makes it an attractive market yet again for Nextracker and other global tracker firms.