The show is over — at least it is for the Solar Power World team. Without taking too many breaks, I was able to speak to more than 40 companies over two days at RE+. It’s an event that boasted 1,300 exhibitors, so, I managed to meet with about only 3% of them. Putting it into that perspective makes it feel like my efforts are insignificant in the scope of this show. From when we last visited Anaheim in 2022, RE+ had broken a record by attracting 27,000 attendees to the event, and this year at least 13,000 more people registered, requiring organizers to expand the show floor to surrounding buildings, walkways and parking lots to fit everything.
I surely didn’t manage to see everything that I meant to, because there wouldn’t be enough time to. But here is a sampling of what I managed to see in the racking, tracker and mounting space on my second day at RE+ 2024.
AEROCOMPACT S_BASE
Austrian solar mounting manufacturer AEROCOMPACT debuted its latest flat roof racking, S_BASE, which is composed of four components: a lightweight aluminum ballast plate, standing bracket, wind screen and module clamp. The structural elements are assembled by sliding the bracket into factory-made slots on the ballast plate that lock into place. The system is designed for ease of shipment — 144 ballast plates ship on a single pallet, accounting for 120 modules in a final array. S_BASE is Intertek listed and will start shipping to customers in November.
AEROCOMPACT S_BASE
Sunstack SSM
Showing for the first time at RE+ was Sunstack, a new venture from some of the founding members of Roof Tech’s American business. Sunstack is producing solar mounting products that attach to the roof over the shingle, as expected, but with a focus on adjustability to reduce installer error. For example, the SSM is an integrated L-foot mount that has a second metal plate that attaches to the bottom of the mount. That metal plate has sliding channels that match the drilling points on the SSM so it has some adjustment tolerance to the rail. “It’s what we would have built had we stayed at Roof Tech,” said Joe Perez with Sunstack.
Sunstack SSM
Many, many carports
This is a bit of a cheat from my usual trade show coverage because I’m not selecting a single product here, but there was a lot of anecdotal buzz around solar carports this year and many exhibitors were there with new carports, so here are a few that I saw.
Infinity Rack manufactures solar canopies for residential and commercial applications.
World4Solar carports are designed to house storage and EV charging technologies.
Solar Mounts LLC debuted its latest canopy design meant for smaller applications.
Rocking Solar commercial roof solar tracker
Over the last few years, I’ve heard a few times about someone trying to make a solar tracker for flat rooftops, but nothing materialized from those rumors. However, in one of the branching expo rooms at the show this year was Rocking Solar, a company coming to market with just that. Unlike the videos I’ve seen of people’s attempts at a rooftop tracker — these large, cumbersome machines that resembled Erector Set projects — Rocking Solar has a design that looks better suited for flat roofs. The tracker uses a partial wheel that rocks module rows back and forth a long a track that spans the length of the system. Like traditional commercial projects, it can be mounted with ballast blocks or penetrations if needed, and like traditional tracker projects, it promises higher energy yields.
Rocking Solar
ASGA agrivoltaics with Array Technologies trackers
We here at Solar Power World are very pro sheep. We live for photos of herds of sheep grazing beneath solar panels, so when we heard there would be a live display at RE+ we had to see it. American Solar Grazing Association arranged to bring the live animals to the Anaheim Convention Center and Array Technologies provided the trackers on display, and because that is a technology I cover for the magazine, I am including it here. See you all next year.
Sheep graze beneath a solar tracker system at RE+ 2024.
