SolarFlexRack Launches TDP Tracker

The company describes this new generation tracker as the “only tracker solution provided with full design, installation, and commissioning services,” according to Ryan Petruska, the marketing manager for the Youngstown, Ohio company. Each tracker can move 18,000 Watts, based on 60 300-Watt panels, and can withstand 130 mph wind speeds, confirmed through wind tunnel testing.

The TDP tracker features a controller that will operate a quad of arrays, a 10 percent North-South adjustment, nylon bearings, and dampers for wind bursts. The company is targeting the commercial and industrial market segment, for installations ranging from 0.5 MW to 20 MW, Petruska says. Their first installation with the unit was the Holdrege Project completed in June, in Lincoln, oldridge, Nebraska, at 5 MW.

“We now are building out a portfolio of between eight and 10 different 1 MW sites in the Central Valley of California at different agricultural sites, for a single developer,” Petruska notes.

The TDP generation was designed to anticipate a greater market need in the future for customer support. “The TDP addresses a critical need for services which will be essential to support the expected increase in demand in 2016,” commented Steve Daniel, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at the time of initial commercial release in December.

Between the current and prior generation trackers, the company has now sold some 16 MW of single-axis trackers, Petruska notes. As a subsidiary of Northern States Metals, Solar FlexRack has a dedicated low-cost metal component supplier. The company had already established a strong market presence in fixed racking prior to moving vertically into trackers. Over 1 GW of fixed or tracking support has been sold by Solar FlexRack to date. The company has sold products into 32 U.S. states and five countries.