Solar Tracker Challenges on Non-Flat Terrain

As the solar industry grows, so does the demand for land. Historically, solar power plants were installed on flat land, even if the land was not originally flat. With the tremendous drop in module and balance-of-system costs, grading has become a key part of the project economics. Gone are the days a site can “just be graded”. Now, developers are focused on eliminating grading, especially as they expand into untraditional areas with more terrain challenges. Solar developers, contractors, and partners are tasked with finding solutions to tackle these less-than-ideal lands, oftentimes at higher associated costs.

When faced with non-flat terrain, solar developers need competitive solutions to meet capacity, production and cost goals. Conventional trackers require site grading to mimic flat-land environments due to the minimal allowable torque tube deflection along the length of the row. While this might seem like a reasonable solution, the cost of civil site work, environmental protections (SWPPP), and permitting often makes grading untenable.

This article originally appears in pv-magazine-usa.com.

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Chief Commercial Officer

Jenya Meydbray

Jenya is the Chief Commercial Officer of Nevados, prior to that he co-founded PVEL in 2010 and served as CEO for the past dozen years. 

He developed the first extended reliability and performance test protocols for the downstream PV industry as well as innovative methods of evaluating PV performance for power plant level risk assessment and mitigation. 

Prior to founding PVEL, Jenya was the Senior Quality and Reliability Engineer at SunPower where he designed accelerated test methods for high-efficiency solar cells and modules. Jenya began his career at NASA Ames Research Center’s hyper-gravity facilities. He also served as VP of Technology for Cypress Creek Renewables, a utility-scale project developer.

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Rick Baldini

Rick has over 18 years of finance experience across several industries including financial services, insurance, real estate, and construction.  Rick is experienced in building, leading, and advising companies through complex restructurings, business expansion and product development.  

Prior to Nevados, Rick was the CFO for Link Real Estate & Urban Land Co, a real estate investment firm, that Rick led to become the fastest growing private company in Central Ohio.  Rick has also been successful in structuring a multi-million-dollar licensing deal with a public company while CFO at Global Administration Management, a boutique consulting firm in the insurance industry.

Rick is a graduate of the University of Arizona where he received a B.S. in Finance and Marketing.