Terrace mart has developed a new hail storage feature for its single-axis solar tracker, TerraTrak. The ability to store hail increases risk mitigation functionality for PeakYield, Terrasmart’s cloud-based tracker control and monitoring software platform.
Credit: Terrasmart
The hail mitigation system automatically activates the storage position to protect solar energy without operator intervention, using cloud-based weather forecasts from Accuweather. The hail storage solution is available for both 1P and 2P trackers and adds to Terrasmart’s foundation-independent racking portfolio that offers both ground screw and driven piles, specifically designed to perform in adverse terrain and weather conditions.
“Reducing project risk has been and will continue to be our most important contribution to the solar industry,” said Terrasmart President Ed McKiernan. “Our new hail storage feature complements our existing range of foundation and scaffolding products that provide unique reliability in unreliable locations.”
The Terrasmart hail storage solution provides key benefits for asset owners and operators, including:
The high tilt angle takes into account both wind and hail conditions, eliminating conflicting positions and ensuring a safe position of the tracker (+/- 50° for 1P and +/- 60° for 2P) The automatic stow function is activated 60 minutes before weather activated event, but timing can be adjusted to owner’s requirements. Using the storage feature does not require installing or calibrating additional hardware over time.
“Our motto at Terrasmart is to put away early and put away often,” says Ashton Vandermark, head of software solutions at Terrasmart. “We are committed to activating hail protection automatically to avoid cases where no manual intervention has taken place during storms. We are excited about this latest addition to PeakYield’s cloud-based functionality and machine learning intelligence to protect assets.”
Hail represents one of the most devastating forms of weather that can impact U.S. solar sites. According to insurance industry reports, hail is responsible for less than 2% of insurance claims for solar projects by volume, but more than 50% of total dollar losses. Forty-year financial exposure modeling from engineering firm VDE Americas shows that hail events can cause up to $13 million in damage at a 0° slope, compared to just $620,000 at a 60° slope.
Terrasmart’s software team will be at RE+ in Anaheim, September 10-12, in booth #D30011 to provide live demos of PeakYield and discuss hailstow and other TerraTrak features.
News item from Terrasmart
