Seemingly across market scales, mounting, racking and tracker manufacturers aren’t redefining what their systems do or look like, but are looking inward to see what can be improved on existing offerings or within their operations. The residential market has seen a sweeping adoption of mounts using pre-applied, peel-and-stick adhesives with enough drilling points to ensure they can attach anywhere on a roof. Then most single-axis tracker manufacturers are using some form of articulating rows to tackle uneven landscapes.
I haven’t seen any earth-shattering developments on the show floor just yet, but I have seen companies that are comfortable in their market space and seeing where they can further refine what’s working.
OMCO Star Tracker Controller
OMCO Solar is known for producing fixed-tilt and single-axis solar tracker systems domestically across its several factories, both structures bearing the phrase “Factory-Direct” in their names to drive that point home. The biggest update to OMCO’s solar tracker is the development of OMCO Star Tracker Controller. This new controller system has an extended wireless operating range of one mile and can work in environments with heavy electromagnetic noise. OMCO Star is operated with a phone application, reducing the number of buttons on its exterior, because, as Matt Kesler, OMCO Solar’s director of solar technology put it: “Buttons can be expensive.”
OMCO Star Tracker Controller
Unirac FlashLoc Anchor
Flat concrete roofs aren’t very common across the United States, but they are in Puerto Rico, an American territory that has experienced unprecedented grid outages in recent years. Unirac is pushing to expand solar output in this region where the resiliency of solar is needed most by developing FlashLoc Anchor, a solar mount for concrete roofs that integrates with all of the company’s existing flat roof racking systems.
APA Solar Racking A-Frame Tracker 2.0
APA Solar Racking has made a name for manufacturing foundations that work in less-than-ideal ground conditions (see: cobbly, frost-laden, sandy soils), and has released the second generation of its dedicated solar tracker foundation. The A-Frame Tracker 2.0 resembles the shape of its 1.0 predecessor, but now assembles simply with nuts and bolts instead of coming pre-welded. The foundation can be paired with helical piles and ground screw for embedment, and APA can manufacture the A-Frame to work with any solar tracker system.
APA Solar Racking’s A-Frame Tracker 2.0
Kinematics ONE (and repowering tracker projects)
If you don’t know Kinematics, you’ve more than likely seen a single-axis solar project moving thanks to its actuators. The company’s latest initiative is repowering malfunctioning solar tracker projects by replacing fault drives with ones manufactured by Kinematics. This venture is still in its early days, but Kinematics is attempting to keep existing tracker projects moving.
Kinematics’ line of actuators
K2 Systems CrossRail Simple Tilt
K2 Systems’ latest flat roof racking builds on its line of CrossRail mounts, and uses a new bracket to simplify system angling. The Simple Knee has preset notches that can place panels at 0°, 8°, 16° or 24° angles without needing to troubleshoot adjustments by hand.
K2 Systems’ Simple Knee