PES had a great catch up with Mark Kingsley, CEO of Alion Energy, California. Leaders in solutions for trackers and O&M robotics and currently enjoying the bifacial surge in our industry. Although the current Covid 19 situation presenting some challenges, he has no doubt about the future opportunities.
PES: Hi Mark, it’s a pleasure to welcome you to PES Solar. Would you like to begin by giving our readers a brief overview of Alion Energy?
Mark Kingsley: Alion Energy is a total solutions provider for bifacial trackers and O&M robotics. Our brand promise is ’The Most Power from PV’ as we use integrated design to combine reflective foundations and cleaning robotics, with a patented A-frame + ballasted tracker. System design optimizes our tracker’s steel content to <18 metric tons per MWp, which allows for both a stronger and cost competitive design.
PES: Would you say the solar/PV industry is expanding at the moment?
MK: Very much so. Bifacial has finally arrived in force and our industry’s economics vs alternative sources of energy have never been better.
PES: Please could you tell us about your tracker solutions?
MK: The design goal was to enable unsubsidized solar PV to compete directly with combined cycle gas turbine economics. To accomplish this, we needed to extend the solar project useful life, whilst ensuring maximum generation.
The supporting technologies include slip formed concrete foundations to eliminate subsurface corrosion. These foundations enable construction on sites closer to interconnects including: sites that are sloped, rocky or filled with corrosive clays, or on caliche and karst formations. They also function as a bifacial diffusion reflector and a driving surface for our robotics platform. Taken together our design lets you build where you want and keep your arrays clean while maximizing bifacial gains.
