Arctech to Supply 2.8 GW Solar Tracking Soln to Khavda Solar Project, Gujarat

Global tracking, racking, and BIPV solutions provider – Arctech – has said that it has signed a deal to supply 2.8 GW of SkyLine II single-axis solar trackers for the solar power project with a total capacity of 15 GW in Khavda district of Gujarat, India. The tracker provider said that the project is expected to be connected to the grid in the third quarter of 2023, which is set to be the largest operational solar site in the country.

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Arctech, a China-based entity – mentioned in the official statement that since entering the Indian market in 2015, it has supplied 7 GW solar tracking, and racking solutions to the Indian region. According to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Arctech holds the first position for solar trackers in India in 2020 and a 45 percent market share in 2021.

The technology

Arctech calls SkyLine II as a flagship product with a peculiar edge in the Indian market. The first 1P (one-in-portrait) tracker designed with a pentagonal torque tube and synchronous multi-point drive mechanism enables a new possibility of designing the plant using trackers with identical pile configurations, overcoming the uncertainty faced in the early stage of plant design and construction.

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It maintains that the synchronous multi-point drive mechanism technology rigidifies the tracker to the point of enabling 0deg wind stow mode. This reduces the difference of wind pressure and post loads between the exterior and interior of a solar PV plant. By doing so, It also said, Skyline II enables a new possibility of designing the plant using trackers with identical pile configurations, overcoming the uncertainty faced in the early stage of plant design and construction.

Arctech presence in India

Arctech also shared that the PV manufacturing is expanding rapidly in India and the country will remain one of the world's largest PV markets in the coming years, and it is keen to free itself from dependence on imported solar goods.

In August 2022, Arctech celebrated the inauguration of its first joint venture manufacturing base, Jash Energy in Mundra, Gujarat. The manufacturing base with a 3 GW annual capacity is the first manufacturing base dedicated to solar trackers in the country, allowing producing all major components for its solar tracker products. The factory is based on the modelling of the Chinese manufacturing facility of the company.