Natural Disasters and Industry Standards: Engineering Resilient Trackers

An estimated 15.4 GW of utility scale solar capacity will be installed in 2021. In the face of the climate crisis, it’s critical that this onslaught of new development is built to last amidst worsening weather patterns and more frequent natural disasters like hurricanes. In the solar industry, many developers view resilience and robust design as an added benefit, not the standard. It’s time to reevaluate best practices for system engineering with resilience at the forefront.

Three Hurricanes, Zero Damages 

Ideematec’s utility scale solar project in Hope Mills, North Carolina was engineered to withstand severe weather conditions like high wind loads from hurricanes. When hurricane Florence swept through the Carolinas in 2018, $22 billion in damages were reported across the state. The city of Hope Mills recorded 20.5 inches of torrential rainfall during the category 4 hurricane. During the high winds and flooding across the state, Ideematec’s H4 trackers were left unscathed and incurred no significant damages. In fact, this system has endured three hurricanes at this project, and continues to operate at peak performance, proving its durability. 

Resiliency Is the New Black

Our project at Hope Mills points to a new trend: more hurricanes and more systems that can survive high wind loads. Because global warming has increased the chances of storms reaching Category 3 or higher, it’s critical that developers choose structures that are built to withstand extreme storms and hurricanes. Trackers must be able to endure up to 180 mile per hour winds. Our trackers can be stowed- and locked at a zero degree (or horizontal) position, which protects the entire array against torsional galloping and keeps solar modules away from heavy pressure loads when stowing against the wind. This also means that each motor experiences 40% less velocity pressure, extending the lifetime of the array and lowering operational costs. Each of Ideematec’s tracker systems have the strength to secure XL modules in place against up to 180 mph winds. Larger scale modules also mean reduced load allowances from manufacturers. A comprehensive stowing strategy seems to become more important as deployment trends continue upward.

It’s also critical that systems have elements in place to minimize any corrosion or regenerate peak performance despite residue from water, dirt and sand. Using a spray coating to protect steel from rusting despite sandstorms, dust, and erosion should be considered an industry best practice. This greatly affects the long term stability of any system. Our 190 meter long module wings also simplify cleaning effectively using just a single robot to seamlessly clean a long swath of pv panels, and duplicate this method across the entire array.

Strong Signature Technology

All of Ideematec’s trackers feature our signature decoupled drive technology. Unlike our competitors, we isolate the motor from the module wing, distributing the load to the foundational posts, away from the modules and motors. Because there are less posts required to support the load, our trackers require up to 4x fewer foundations and gearboxes than standard tracking systems. This dramatically reduces long-term operational costs and provides more system design flexibility. 

We are confident that our trackers enable a project to produce clean energy for years to come. That level of quality assurance begins in the early design stages when our engineers carefully choose materials that will last up to 30 years in a regional environment. With these technologies and key features, solar installations will be more resilient against intense storms. As solar deployment continues to scale, and climate conditions continue to worsen, resilience should be considered commonplace, and tracking systems that are built for durability and simplicity will become the new industry standard.