US Tracker Producer’s Australian Manufacturing Plans

• Nextracker has partnered with Orrcon Steel in Australia to manufacture critical steel components locally 
• The Salisbury Tube Mill in Queensland has an annual production capacity for up to 50,000 tons of torque tubes 
• Nextracker says this will help it deliver fast to the local customers and support large solar farms 

US-based solar tracker manufacturer Nextracker now has a critical steel components manufacturing facility for its smart solar trackers in Australia with an annual capacity of up to 50,000 tons of torque tubes. This is equivalent of over 2.5 GW of utility-scale solar farms. 

Located in Queensland, local tube and pipe manufacturer Orrcon Steel will produce these components at its Salisbury Tube Mill in Brisbane, and finish these at its Northgate site by Baojia. The latter is Nextracker's global manufacturing partner for delivery to EPCs. 

"In addition to reducing our carbon footprint by manufacturing critical tracker components in Australia, the manufacturing facility in Queensland will accelerate Nextracker's ability to deliver faster to our customers in Australia and support large solar farms with quality, high performing solar tracker systems," said Nextracker GM for Australia, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, Peter Wheale. 

Nextracker is already ramping up its US local production capacity for steel components (see Nextracker Expands US Manufacturing Capacity). 

The initial project for which Nextracker will supply its Australian made steel components from the facility is Acciona Energia's 480 MW Aldoga Solar Farm near Gladstone.  

Orrcon Steel will use steel coil from its parent BlueScope Steel that won a AUD 55.4 million federal grant in 2022 to set up a new fabrication facility at Port Kembla Steelworks to help reduce reliance on foreign products (see Steel Manufacturing Boost For RE In Australia). 

The Chair of the Australian Steel Institute and General Manager of Orrcon Steel Tony Schreiber shared, "Our investment also includes a large tubular mill at Unanderra NSW, tooling to produce solar torque tubes and increased warehouse capacity, positioning our business as a key supplier of products for the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector."