Solar tracker maker FTC Solar and energy contractor AUI Partners have teamed up to provide solar tracking solutions for distributed generation (DG) projects under 20MW within an eight week time frame.
FTC’s DG Solutions Business Unit and AUI Partners will leverage FTC Solar’s Voyager+ 2P single-axis solar tracker and AUI’s experience in site design and construction to help boost energy optimisation, cut installation times and increase system reliability.
The Texas-based companies are hoping to provide delivery lead times of as short as eight weeks as they look to capture more of the DG market, which they estimate will be worth US$386 billion by 2026.
“Despite the growth in DG as a result of federal and state-wide pushes for increased solar projects, there is still a shortage of comprehensive solutions that give customers what they need in a timely manner,” said Mario Carbone, partner at AUI Partners.
“By combining FTC’s resilient and versatile Voyager tracker and optimisation software with our lead generation, design, delivery, and installation services, we are able to offer customers an innovative design-through-installation service that ultimately benefits developers by reducing the number of project partners they need to commission.”
The partnership, which is available across all US states, will target commercial and industrial (C&I) PV sector, community solar programmes, projects for independent power producers (IPP) and smaller one-off projects, such as agrivoltaics, they said in a statement.
“By ensuring materials are readily available for these projects, DG Solutions will deliver faster than many other providers in the market, which can require more than six months,” said Sean Hunkler, CEO of FTC Solar. “We see tremendous growth potential for this market over the next few years.”
Despite being on the “cusp of profitability” in March following a difficult financial period, FTC Solar in May announced that it was withdrawing its guidance for the year and warned of material uncertainties caused by the US AD/CVD investigation, which has since been superseded by President Joe Biden’s two-year freeze on new tariffs on solar imports from Southeast Asia.
