Floor mount photo voltaic often means constructing a racking system to carry a number of photo voltaic panels. Typically, monitoring units are added to the racks in order that the panels can observe the solar like sunflowers. Each add considerably to the price of a photo voltaic set up. Erthos had a greater thought.
The Tempe, Arizona, firm thinks it is best to simply put the photo voltaic panels on the bottom. Doing so can cut back the price of a photo voltaic facility by 20%. Sure, there are trade-offs. These panels produce much less electrical energy once they’re not aimed straight on the solar, however Erthos believes the loss in effectivity is greater than made up for by the decrease price.
There’s one other profit as properly. Erthos claims that it’s attainable to suit extra photo voltaic panels in a single space of land than is feasible with conventional installations that use racking techniques. That may be a major profit when there are land use constraints. Moreover, the corporate says its techniques might be put in in half the time it takes to finish standard techniques. This is what Erthos needed to say about himself LinkedIn.
“Erthos is a solar energy deployment platform that’s essentially altering the utility-scale photo voltaic business. By constructing its progressive applied sciences on a basis of confirmed PV modules and inverter merchandise, it reduces the chance of adoption and offers instant bankability. Making use of the principals of structural simplicity, clever administration, and autonomous operation, Erthos does what no different solar energy plant can do.
“The Erthos group has aggregated expertise of greater than seven gigawatts of deployed photo voltaic, together with the event, EPC, and financing of among the largest solar energy vegetation on the planet. Its executives and administration come from corporations together with Tesla, Intel, Sterling & Wilson, First Photo voltaic, Canadian Photo voltaic, SMA, and Photo voltaic Frontier.
“The group has in depth expertise in international markets, together with the US, Latin America, Europe, the Center East, Africa, India, Asia and the Pacific. Along with experience within the areas of photo voltaic growth, EPC, mission engineering, and bag- photo voltaic product growth, the group has consultants within the areas of arithmetic, superior thermodynamics, software program engineering, industrial controls, robotics, and IIoT.
Not a bunch of lightweights, in different phrases. In response to a current press launch, Erthos at the moment has 14 megawatts of tasks beneath contract and a signed settlement for a 100 MW mission in hand. In complete, it has commitments with 5 of the main US and international utility scale photo voltaic builders.
Encore Renewable Power, a frontrunner in community-scale renewable vitality and vitality storage growth headquartered in Vermont, has signed an MOU with Erthos for a significant mission of their portfolio. “As a forward-looking firm, our group is all the time trying to enhance the worth of our tasks utilizing new know-how,” stated Chad Farrell, CEO of Encore Renewable Power. “Erthos answered that decision for a mission of ours, considerably bettering the economics of the mission utilizing a brand new floor method.”
In June of 2021, when Erthos got here out of stealth mode, Canary Media stated, “It is a radical innovation that challenges a elementary architectural precept of utility-scale photo voltaic – and the $3 billion enterprise of trackers and racking. By eliminating what it sees as ‘ an enormous quantity of pointless supplies and threat,’ Erthos claims it may well construct a solar energy plant in half the time on a 3rd of the land, all whereas utilizing 70 p.c much less cable and trenching. “
Erthos claims that its design requires “solely mild civil engineering,” with a system that can be utilized in a wide range of topographies with no need for grading, making it easier to put in than others. techniques. It not too long ago signed an settlement for a 100 MW system with mission developer Industrial Solar for a utility scale photo voltaic set up in Texas.
Industrial Solar stated Canary Media that land constraints would have prevented the proposed website from being developed utilizing standard photo voltaic applied sciences that sometimes require 5 to 10 hectares of land per megawatt of capability. Erthos claims that its mounting scheme requires lower than 2.5 acres per megawatt.
Racking techniques price about $0.15 per watt for a 100-megawatt system within the US immediately, in line with a current report from the Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation and Wooden Mackenzie Energy & Renewables. The prices of metal and different parts wanted to construct racking techniques are rising, driving the price of grid-scale photo voltaic increased in lots of instances.
Ion Yadigaroglu of Capricorn Funding Group, which led Erthos’ financing spherical earlier this 12 months, stated Canary Media in March he believed that the corporate may decrease the massive price of photo voltaic set up by 20% with the brand new structural methodology just by eliminating conventional racking techniques.
“Decreasing prices by 20 p.c in a mature industrial product market like photo voltaic is extraordinary. If the Erthos method is possible and financially viable, it may very well be the step change wanted in photo voltaic business to keep up its fast development and proceed to switch fossil gasoline era,” Canary Media saying.
The Takeaway
Logically, inserting photo voltaic panels straight on the bottom makes a variety of sense. As we speak, many panels are put in on the flat roofs of massive field shops and carports. It is probably not as environment friendly as photo voltaic panels mounted on a racking system that factors them towards the solar, however the buildings are there. Why not use it to reap as a lot of the solar’s vitality as attainable? Typically good is sufficient.
After all there are areas the place the Erthos system will not work, particularly in snowy latitudes, though the corporate might develop a small autonomous snow plow for these areas. However the thought may very well be good for Florida, the place issues about wind harm from hurricanes are all the time current. Current expertise means that worries could also be overblown, nevertheless, as there have been no experiences of serious harm to photo voltaic farms in Florida from hurricanes this 12 months.
For extra on Erthos and its progressive photo voltaic set up methodology – together with the automated photo voltaic panel cleansing bot – please watch the video under.
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