FTC Solar has provided to our market survey solar trackers data for 2 products —Voyager & Voyager+—as against only the Voyager featured in the previous overview in 2021. However, no specific reference to Voyager+ was listed in the technical specs. Nevertheless, a few specs did change. The module mounting method is now adapted to 6 mechanical fasteners per module. A few parameters which were standard are now optional. For example, the standard tracking range is now ± 52° vs. the ± 60° previously, which continues to be offered as an option. Similarly, the lower end of the operating temperature of -20 °C is now part of the cold weather package, as 0 °C is the standard offering now. However, the basic configuration remains the same. The independent row design supports 4 strings per row with up to 30 modules per string with up to 1,500 V. The DC self-powered drive system uses two 60 W solar modules for power supply with a 3-day Li-ion battery backup. The N-S slope tolerance of 17.5% lowers the grading costs, according to FTC.
Voyager tracker systems apply NREL's Solar Position Algorithm (SPA) with backtracking and provide additional energy yield gain with the SunPath algorithm for diffused light capture, which is estimated to result in a 6.1% gain in energy generation. FTC offers different stow conditions for various harsh weather conditions: 0° stow for wind and flood, 40° for snow and 60° for hailstorm.
FTC claims its products are designed to support rapid installation and negligible maintenance as the only component that has to be replaced is the battery after 10 years, while only a visual inspection is recommended on an annual basis.
The text is an excerpt from TaiyangNews 2nd Market Survey on Solar Trackers, which was published in Dec. 2022 and can be downloaded for free here.
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