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Increasing energy yield in challenging terrain and high wind scenarios

Published in: Solar, Digital Blog

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Enhancing Solar Yield in Harsh Terrain and Windy Conditions

GameChange Solar is redefining utility-scale solar energy optimization through smart tracking strategies that adapt to environmental challenges. Leveraging progressive wind stow and terrain-optimized backtracking, their solutions ensure greater energy yields, even in sites with extreme winds or varied topography.

Why Terrain and Wind Conditions Matter As solar farms expand into hurricane-prone zones and mountainous regions, conventional tracking methods struggle. Key challenges include:

  • Energy loss from early stow angles in high winds.
  • Uneven terrain causing shading between solar tracker tables.
  • Incomplete modeling of aeroelastic instability under gust conditions.

Strategic Monitoring & Energy Recovery Techniques GameChange Solar implements progressive wind stow strategies that:

  • Adjust tracker table angles based on incremental wind speed thresholds.
  • Extend solar tracking closer to real-time sun positions without compromising safety.
  • Have been wind tunnel-tested for accurate aeroelastic behavior.

Compared to standard stow methods, these strategies yielded up to 3.15% more energy in modeled tests across sites in California and Maryland.

Technology-Driven Terrain Optimization Their backtracking algorithms adapt to elevation variances across sloped solar sites by:

  • Generating custom tracking schedules for each table based on topographical data.
  • Minimizing shading losses, particularly critical for silicon cell modules sensitive to partial shadowing.
  • Demonstrating superior real-world gains over non-optimized configurations.

The Future of Resilient Solar Trackers GameChange Solar’s insights show that integrating wind-aware tracking and terrain-sensitive backtracking are essential as solar expands into less forgiving landscapes. These solutions:

  • Reduce structural risk during storms.
  • Improve long-term project ROI.
  • Ensure solar tracker performance keeps pace with global deployment demands.

Through innovation and precision modeling, GameChange Solar delivers cutting-edge systems ready for the toughest conditions in solar development.

Read the full article here: https://pes.eu.com/exclusive-article/increasing-energy-yield-in-challenging-terrain-and-high-wind-scenarios/

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