Solar Energy Supplies

This figure makes the Spanish multinational, part of Grupo OPDE,the leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic trackers in Italy, where at the end of the current year it will have installed more than 4,200 MECASOLAR trackers.

Also, in late 2010, the company will have installed globally more than 22,000 solar trackers with a total power of 282 MW.

MECASOLAR, which has factories in the United States, Italy, Greece and Spain, has enjoyed considerable success in the market with its new 1-axis azimuth trackers model MS-1E Tracker 15+. This product in addition to increasing the production by 28% enables 15 kWp capacity to be installed (up to 64 modules of 240 Wp).

The company will attend the European Conference and Exhibition on Photovoltaic Solar Energy (EU PVSEC 2010) to be held from 6 to 9 September in Valencia; and the ZeroEmission PV Roma fair to be held from 9 to 11 September in the Italian capital.

  30.08.10: MECASOLAR installs 42 MW of solar trackers in Italy in 2010

03.03.2010: PROINSO awarded the supply of several solar farms in Greece with an output exceeding 3.2 MW - ~35 Kb

PROINSO owned by Grupo OPDE, which also includes  MECASOLAR and OPDE, has joined up as a member of the  American Solar Energies Industry Association - SEIA - with the aim of strengthening and supporting the American industry in the development of the market and the photovoltaic industry in the coming years. Interestingly it has already begun to participate in various forums held by SEIA in the energy, legal and industrial area, with the aim of creating a stable framework enabling sustainable development. Grupo OPDE companies are also involved in other associations, such as the-AEF- in Spain, - HELAPCO- in Greece  and -GIFI- in Italy, providing it with extensive knowledge of the industry and the market in the different countries, allowing it to contribute a global vision in solar material in each local market.

The Spanish multinational PROINSO, specializing in the distribution of modules, inverters,   trackers and fixed structures for photovoltaic systems, both on the ground and on roofs, has launched a new application on its website, under the name of "Solar PV Tracker”, which allows the comparative calculation of solar energy production anywhere in the world.

Free of charge and accessible, both in English and Spanish-  at www.proinso.net the goal of this new application is to carry out the  calculation of photovoltaic solar energy production generated in kWh, based on the kWp of the installation and using both 1 and 2-axis trackers, anywhere in the world.

The company has made the following link available to the media, portals, blogs and other websites wanting to incorporate access to its application on the following link: http://www.proinso.net/_bin/iphone.php. It has also announced the launch next February of the iPhone and Android version incorporating new features and improvements.

Operation:  5 steps 

1 .- The PV SOLAR TRACKER app. begins by providing the solar radiation data anywhere on the planet, measured in kWh/m2 (both daily and annually) on a horizontal plane at 0 degrees. Both a country and city can be selected, as can an exact location on the map anywhere in the world. The solar radiation data is based on various databases, both private and public, including the United Nations Organization.

2 .- Once the application has the radiation data on the horizontal plane (at 0 °), the user must enter values to calculate the overall performance or Performance Ratio (PR) of the installation. Thus, for this calculation, data on the following should be provided:  estimated temperature losses, availability, wiring losses, estimated losses from dirt, losses due to being outside of MMP-   the Maximum Power Point, inverter losses, shade losses, tolerance of the modules, losses due to angle mismatch and loss due to estimated spectral angle.
After entering this data, the application will provide a PR value for the facility.  The overall performance of a total facility usually varies between 85% and 70% depending on the   factors mentioned above.

3 .- Then, on the same screen select the tilt angle - in the case of the  of 1-Axis Azimuth trackers- and proceed to the next screen to show the RESULT.
 
4 .- On the RESULT SCREEN the production data in the selected location can be found, with the PR and Availability shown, both on a 2-axis tracker facility , and a 1-axis tracker facility. (* On the same screen the tracker angle can be varied to a 1-Axis Azimuth to observe how the data changes). The data shown is the annually installed kWh / kWp.  Thus, to calculate the production of 12 kWp from a tracker just multiply the value given by the SOLAR PV TRACKER application by 12.
 
5 .- Finally, we  the QUALIFIED INSTALLERS network  screen is reached where the SOLAR PV TRACKER application will indicate to the user where  the  PROINSO Network installers nearest to the location selected on the initial map of the facility can be found and the radius determined by the user in kilometres. Thus enabling the user to contact the nearest PROINSO Network installer with any technical  or commercial queries they may have.

01.18.2010: PROINSO launches web app. for the comparative calculation of photovoltaic solar energy - ~46 Kb