iPV Tracker, BIG SUN Group’s self-developed solar tracking technology, has officially established a new position in the global solar PV industry. The highly reliable PV solution increases 30~40% power output over traditional PV systems, and it will step to the center of stage as Taiwan is now strongly prompting solar PV energy.

99.9% operational availability

iPV Tracker is a dual-axis solar tracking system that is made to rotate 360degrees. The all-steel design makes it firm enough to remain intact even under wind with hurricane (or typhoon) force. Furthermore, iPV Trackers are applicable for various environments as it has four major features: wind sustained, dust-removing, snow proofing and shade proofing.

BIG SUN has install more than 2,500 iPV Trackers around the world since 2012. The demonstration sites proves that iPV Trackers are highly reliable as the operation availability reaches 99.9% by now. Such a strong mechanism directly reduces O&M costs of systems using iPV Tracker while securing the return of investment.

Especially ideal for Taiwan

Taiwan’s assumed government led by Tsai Ing-wen set to install 20GW of solar power in Taiwan by 2025. If all of the 20GW uses iPV Trackers, the power generation will be much higher than using traditional fixed systems.

“The cost of installing iPV Trackers will be 8~15% higher than using fixed systems,” explained Summer Luo, President of BIG SUN Group. “However, the annual power generation will increase by 30~50%, and the cost per watt of solar generation can be reduced by 13%.”

He compared two scenarios of power output efficiencies. If all the 20GW of PV systems use fixed systems, the expected power generation per year will be 26,400GWh, equal to the power generation of 130% Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant, which is now pausing construction. In contrast, if iPV Trackers were applied to all the 20GW of systems, the annual power yield will reach 35,500GWh, equals power output of 180% Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant.

“To generate the same amount of solar electricity, the land use of iPV Trackers is 15% less than fixed systems and the materials for mounting systems will also be reduced by 26%,” said Luo. Such features make iPV Tracker an ideal solution for the Taiwan market.

Target

BIG SUN has introduced iPVita for integrated solar services. iPVita is an self-developed device that can combine solar systems, inverters, batteries and other electronic devices to create a comprehensive monitoring and management solution. The new product is part of BIG SUN’s strategy to manage 200MW of solar systems in Taiwan by the end of 2016 as well as to establish a power generating system that can supply people with solar power 24/7.

“iPVita is to integrate big data, the cloud technology and Internet of Things for effective management of solar systems,” said Luo. “In the future, we will launch our own energy storage system to complete BIG SUN’s solar energy map.”

So far, iPV Tracker has receive 55 patents in many countries and has been deployed in Japan, Taiwan, China and Europe. The secured capacity in MOUs with some first-tire Chinese PV manufacturers has already surpassed 1GW, a volume that will further help reduce cost of iPV Tracker for better competitiveness. BIG SUN aims to establish a global market of 1GW for iPV Tracker in the year of 2019.