Nevados’ Innovative Solar Trackers Honored by Fast Company’s 2024 Innovation by Design awards
The innovative design of Nevados solar trackers continues to win recognition from the industry and third parties who study them. Fast Company has selected Nevados for one of its 2024 Innovation by Design awards for its All Terrain Tracker, a first-of-its kind technology that enables solar developers to install solar panels on rough, undulating land – unlocking far more potential solar sites and reducing the hours needed to complete projects.
The Innovation by Design Awards are among the most renowned industrial design awards.They award individuals and companies that are working to address major issues already affecting our planet – and issues that will come in the future. Nevados received an Honorable Mention in the “Small but Mighty” category, recognizing products, projects, or services by companies with fewer than 100 employees.
“‘Small but mighty’ hits the nail on the head. We are creating a profound impact in the solar industry,” said Yezin Taha, founder and CEO of Nevados.
The Nevados tracker’s terrain-following capabilities also shorten installation times, due to generous tolerances and its simple, easy-to-learn design.
Third-party research confirms that Nevados’ All Terrain Tracker significantly reduces the amount of labor required to install solar trackers. A recent report by Eclipse-M, an industry-recognized specialist in solar construction and project execution, revealed that Nevados trackers require 38% less labor on average to install compared to three other leading trackers, from pile driving through panel installation.
The labor savings stem from three factors:
- The system maximizes the use of pre-assembled factory materials, which reduces additional logistics and installation times.
- The technology also includes “one tube per bay” and “auto-alignment” features for bearing assemblies and torque tubes, which can eliminate typical alignment operations for hilly or flat sites.
- Module rails are designed to correctly and quickly position and attach the module to the tube.
“Along with the terrain-following benefits that you'll see from Nevados, we're not seeing a penalty in terms of installation, which is good news,” said Bill Poulin, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Eclipse-M. “We really think that terrain following is an important new development in tracker design and methodology, so it's good to see that can be achieved.”
“We’ve seen the benefits of Nevados’ solar trackers first-hand. For one of our solar projects in Virginia, we were able to eliminate a significant amount of grading, reduce the total steel piles by 23%, and protect the integrity of the natural landscape,” said Allen Oldroyd, Field Operations Manager at MYR Group and a Nevados customer.
“It’s no secret that the industry faces an array of challenges to move forward at the pace our planet demands,” said Taha, the founder and CEO. “We need to use every minute of labor, every fundraising dollar raised, and every morsel of land to its fullest potential. We’re proud that our technology helps developers maximize all these resources.”
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