STOW EARLY – STOW OFTEN

August 30, 2024
Posted in Blog, Featured
August 30, 2024 terrasmart

Terrasmart’s proactive hail stow feature brings risk mitigation to new heights

A conversation with John Goetz, Senior Product Manager – Ground Mount, Terrasmart

As Terrasmart unveils its new hail stow feature for both of its 1P and 2P trackers, we sat down with John Goetz to learn more about what makes this system unique.

Q1. The solar industry is facing more frequent and damaging extreme weather events, including hail. Can you help us understand the impact hail has on plants in the US?

A1. We all know that hail storms pose a significant threat to solar power plants in the U.S., and incidents are becoming more frequent and destructive. In 2022, hail-related losses in Texas alone surpassed $300 million, highlighting the vulnerability of solar infrastructure to extreme weather. Over the last five years, hail has accounted for 50% of all insured project losses in the solar industry, despite representing only 2% of total claims by number. This disproportionate impact underscores the severity of hail damage. This March we also saw a 350-MW project devastated by a hailstorm, also in the Lone Star State, destroying thousands of solar panels. As the solar industry continues to grow, we are all working to prioritize risk management strategies to mitigate hail damage and ensure long-term viability.

Q2. Can you start with an overview of Terrasmart’s new hail stow functionality and related benefits?

A2. At Terrasmart we offer both fixed tilt and tracker systems, but when it comes to hail, trackers are specifically designed to reduce damage by detecting severe storms and repositioning themselves to minimize impact, offering a clear advantage over fixed-tilt systems.

First we start with PeakYield™. This intelligent tracker software boosts energy yield while also protecting assets during bad weather such as hail. It adjusts each tracker row to reduce shading, so the panels always get the best exposure and maximize production. Our system includes a weather station, a network controller, and a row box for each tracker row, all working together to provide real-time data on site performance. It’s all about maximizing efficiency and value for our projects.

PeakYield is designed to minimize weather risks. When hail conditions reach certain thresholds, the system automatically commands the site to stow, which helps prevent damage. Plus, we use an advanced weather API that predicts incoming bad weather, so the system can stow the panels ahead of time.

Our Hail Stow feature is available for both our TerraTrak 2P and 1P trackers, and we mainly recommend it for trackers in areas where hail is a significant concern.

What’s really important is that it operates automatically. This means you don’t have to manually intervene when hail is detected – this is crucial because we’ve seen some sites suffer serious damage from hail simply because the system wasn’t activated in time.

Another key point is that our wind and hail stow strategies are aligned. When our weather stations detect hail or severe thunderstorms in real time, they automatically adjust the trackers to a high-tilt position, away from the wind direction. Specifically, for the TerraTrak 1P, the system will stow at +/- 50 degrees, and for the TerraTrak 2P, it will stow at +/- 60 degrees. This feature is particularly useful if your trackers are set to wind stow at a high-tilt angle.

Q3. Which guiding parameters did the team prioritize for the hail stow technology?

A3. Prior to developing our hail stow feature our engineering team put in over 500 hours working with partners including RWDI and CPP Renewables to fine-tune how our trackers perform in high wind conditions. We focused on finding the best balance between wing length, stiffness, and damping. Plus, by incorporating dampers, we’ve been able to ensure that the system remains stable even under strong wind conditions. It was a pretty intense process, but it’s all about making sure our trackers perform reliably in various weather scenarios.

We then built upon this extensive wind expertise to develop a high-tilt stow strategy that smartly aligns wind and hail stow positions. This means our system takes both wind and hail conditions into account at high-tilt angles, which simplifies the decision-making process and reduces risk.

Some of our competitors have different stow angles for wind and hail, which can create a complex and confusing logic that might leave sites vulnerable. Based on data published by VDE Americas, we found that stowing PV modules at a tilt angle greater than or equal to 50 degrees, rather than at a zero-degree tilt angle, can reduce financial risk exposure in utility-scale solar applications by tens of millions of dollars. It’s all about making our systems both more reliable and cost-effective.

We are excited to have built a hail stow system that is both automatic and reliable, while keeping the logic simple, and prioritizing maximum protection of the array.

As I mentioned, because PeakYield’s hail mitigation is automatically triggered to protect assets during hail there is no operator intervention to go into safe position. Also, our cloud-based system uses highly dependable, real-time weather data and forecasting from AccuWeather. As one of the leading sources of real-time weather forecasting, AccuWeather uses data from NOAA, NWS and other leading sources to serve nearly 1.5 billion people through 35 billion data requests every day. Lastly, but significant to asset owners and operators, our hail stow feature does not require additional hardware and or sensors to install, calibrate, or maintain over time.

Q4. What do Terrasmart customers value most about your tracker portfolio and this new hail stow technology?

A4. Ultimately, our customers come to us for the flexibility of our portfolio and its adaptability to different types of terrain through our foundation-agnostic approach.

We are known in the industry for being the first in the U.S. to deploy ground screw foundations and we have built our entire portfolio of fixed and tracker solutions around this flexibility. Customers want to avoid refusal risks and know that Terrasmart can design, manufacture, and install the entire mechanical system in the most hilly, rocky, icy, windy and hail-prone environments. But we also have an entire line of pile-ready systems as well as ballasted structures for landfills and other sensitive sites. Our ability to design and build custom systems at scale is pretty unique.

This opens new market opportunities for developers who want to take advantage of imperfect sites for solar because these are often cheaper to lease. With intelligent, built-tough fixed, 1P and 2P tracking systems, Terrasmart helps them withstand the industry’s most extreme challenges. So expanding this value proposition to hail is a natural progression of our product development.

Q5. What is Terrasmart’s approach to mitigating risks from hail and how does this differ from other tracker manufacturers?

A5: At Terrasmart, we keep things straightforward with our motto: “stow early, stow often.”

This proactive approach helps developers and asset owners protect their investments by lowering potential insurance claims and reducing premiums for sites at risk of hail. In fact, certain projects wouldn’t even be insurable without a robust hail/stow strategy in place.

Our system is designed to stow the array 60 minutes before a weather event, though it can be customized to meet specific owner requirements. This flexibility is especially important for sites located in high-risk, hail-prone regions. Additionally, operators can set their notification preferences, choosing between text or email alerts to stay informed.

Q6. Beyond using a tracker with hail stowing capabilities, what else can you do to further reduce the risk of hail damage?

A6. While the tracker plays a crucial role, it’s just one part of the overall strategy. Our goal is to minimize hail damage, though it’s impossible to eliminate it entirely.

To enhance protection, customers can consider using solar modules designed with thicker glass to better withstand hail strikes. Additionally, analyzing statistical weather data can help quantify the specific hail risks at a given location. For extra peace of mind, specialized insurance, like parametric insurance, can also provide coverage against catastrophic hail events.

Q7. Where can customers learn more about your new hail stow feature or ask any other related questions?

A7. My door is open. I’m passionate about this technology and really enjoy chatting with customers to help them find the best fit for their project.

I can be reached at [email protected], customers can also visit our website, or submit a form to request a quote. We will also be exhibiting at RE+ and would love to answer any questions at the show!

John Goetz

As Senior Product Manager for Ground Mount. Overseeing the success of Terrasmart’s Ground Mount product portfolio, John has over two decades of mechanical engineering (BSME) and product management (MBA) experience in the industrial industry. John joined the Terrasmart team in 2023 and is passionate about developing winning products and software solutions that best serve each client’s unique project needs.