Manufacturer of floating solar racks Ciel & Terre has developed WattRack, a new line of racks with a higher panel density than the company’s previous models. WattRack is capable of placing 2.2 MW of solar energy on one hectare of water (almost 2.5 acres).
Credit: Ciel & Terre
This new rack places modules in an east-west orientation, has a new rail mounting system and no longer has maintenance corridors between the panel rows. Instead, Ciel & Terre has created a trolley that moves over the solar panels, so that operators can still gain access for maintenance. The trolley has a load capacity of 300 kg and a maximum speed of 5 km/h.
“This system makes maintenance work faster, easier and safer,” the company said in a press release. “Operational teams no longer need to manually carry equipment and work in a safe environment.”
WattRack joins Ciel & Terre’s existing line of floating solar racks from Fusio, a triangular rack that, when assembled, creates arrays in a honeycomb shape; and Hydrelio, the flagship floating rig capable of operating on water bodies of varying depths, which has been on the market for 15 years.
