SunPower announces most powerful solar tracker for power plant applications

ANAHEIM, USA: At the recent Solar Power International 2009 conference, SunPower Corp., a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, launched the next generation of its SunPower T20 Tracker (T20 Tracker).

It is the most powerful solar tracker on the market today, incorporating SunPower's high-efficiency 128-cell, 400-watt solar panels for maximum energy output.

SunPower's newest T20 Tracker is a single axis, ground mounted tracker that follows the sun to deliver the highest system performance. It is pre-assembled for a fast, simple and scalable installation and offers customers a choice of design options to meet specific site needs.

With fewer moving parts and refined mechanical structure, the T20 Tracker provides increased reliability, durability, less maintenance, and better wind resistance than conventional trackers. Each T20 Tracker unit generates up to 3.7 kilowatts of power and, by following the sun, delivers up to 30 percent more energy than a fixed tilt system of the same capacity.

"The superior design of the latest SunPower T20 Tracker evolves from our experience in deploying more than 200 megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) tracking systems worldwide," said Tom Werner, SunPower's CEO. "This tracker is at the core of SunPower's advanced PV power plant technologies which deliver the lowest levelized cost of energy for utility power plants today."

This next generation T20 Tracker also features the new SunPower TMAC Advanced Tracker Controller (TMAC), the most innovative PV tracker control system on the market today.

Its features include real-time tracker status updates, remote monitoring and control, proprietary energy production optimization algorithms, and superior reliability even in harsh environments.

In addition, the TMAC enables power plant operators to wirelessly monitor the status of the T20 Tracker in real-time through the SunPower power plant SCADA control system, giving them the option to control the array from a central operations center.

SunPower will begin constructing power plant projects using the new T20 Tracker beginning in early 2010.