This is your SolarWakeup for January 10th, 2023

Innovation Economy. The tech sector would tell you that it’s when the ride looks like it came to an end that the best new ideas come to the forefront. VCs look at smart, hungry entrepreneurs that may have been faced with layoffs from their cozy job and find ideas to invest in. We’re in an era in renewable energy where cheap money isn’t so cheap anymore, developing takes big bucks and finding square farm land is so 2010. On the other hand, you have a 10 year ITC runway, energy inflation has increased electricity rates and technology maturity is the best it’s been (ever). Now is the time to figure out where the innovation is and if it’s in your blood, take the leap to build something new. I’m excited to see what great ideas come to fruition and who builds the next…

Trackers For All. The top article today is about one of those innovations. The tracker that eliminates the need for grading, i.e. civil costs, for utility scale solar projects. The all terrain tracker was pioneered by an amazing startup called Nevados, I’ve highlighted them a few times in the past. Now Nextracker and Array Technologies have seen and realized the potential of this tech but it starts with the near decade of head start that the Nevados team has. It’s an interesting concept that also has challenges on how to build it so installers don’t waste a ton of time putting it together, think very steep slopes and uneven pilings. While also withstanding the ever growing wind, snow, rain loads that may undermine a project’s lifespan. Nevados talks about the direct impact from a hurricane in some of their experience set so it’s definitely worth looking int.

Controls And Software. I had a quick chat with the Nevados CEO yesterday and something he said struck me given my experience at FlexGen, helping EPCs, developers and IPPs get started with storage. All terrain trackers have more complexity and need more sophisticated controls and software. Shading analysis isn’t one sized fits all for example and the tracking algorithm requires a meaningful topographical analysis. It’s like storage in that way, you can buy the same battery from different vendors or different chemistries but until you put an operating system and controls configured to your project in place, you have a desktop without windows. Something has the turn the lights on, or your asset in this case.

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Opinion

Best, Yann