“Pioneer achieves a full 18 percent to 36 percent pile count reduction per megawatt versus the current industry-leading solutions by volume” said Nagendra Cherukupalli, Chief Technology Officer of FTC Solar, “allowing customers to benefit from reduced labour and materials costs. With a high-density design, Pioneer enables up to 5 percent greater energy output for the same site compared to the competition, among numerous other advantages.”
Some of the advantages of Pioneer include:
Reduced Pile Count - Proprietary and unique design can reduce piles/foundations by 18% or more, significantly reducing capital expenditure and potential costly rework from refusals
Higher Energy Density – shorter row length enables more than 5 percent greater energy output for a given parcel of land
Fast Assembly - proprietary fast-module hang technology and fewer overall fasteners save time, greatly reducing person-hours per megawatt
Reduced Embedment Depth – Zero-degree stow allows for shorter pile embedment depth, with resulting material and labour cost savings
Accommodates Ultra Large Format Modules-550 and 600w wide format modules are readily accommodated. In addition, no Torque Tube (TT) dimpling or through-bolts are required to index the module to the TT, allowing for module changes and retrofits
High Slope Tolerance – including 17.5 percent north-south tracker row allowance
In addition to these advantages Pioneer supports all module factors, including those over 2.4 meters in length, providing customers with increased flexibility when designing projects. In addition, Pioneer will operate independently from the grid during outages and is self-powered with a high-energy battery for up to 3-days overall backup, offering increased energy resilience.
Additionally, Pioneer's design also allows the use of ground screw mounting systems to overcome challenging sub-surface conditions.
Pioneer has undergone rigorous wind tunnel testing by an independent engineering firm RWDI to assure structural and torsional stability in wind conditions up to 120mph. In addition, Pioneer's distinctive torque tube shape allows for longer spans, improved torsional rigidity, and positive alignment of components without the need for torque tube penetrations.
“The introduction of Pioneer, FTC's unique solution to 1P Single Axis Trackers, will disrupt the status quo while enabling the company to serve our customers' growing portfolios of PV projects with differentiated 1P and 2P solutions” added Patrick Cook, Chief Commercial Officer of FTC Solar.
In addition to the launch of Pioneer, the company also announced today that it has been selected by Primoris Renewable Energy (Primoris) in a multi-year agreement to supply at least 500 megawatts of its solar tracker technology for multiple project sites in the US Primoris is expected to utilise FTC Solar’s new and differentiated Pioneer 1P tracker technology on multiple projects to optimise performance while reducing capital and labour costs.
FTC Solar will unveil its innovative tracker technology during the annual RE+ Power show on September 19-22 in Anaheim CA
For additional information:
