ADES presented its solar tracker systems to the North American market during the INTERSOLAR North American trade show. ADES is showcasing the company’s new dual axis solar tracker design with more efficient shipping, better land use, a patented traction system, and an improved elliptical shape and lowered height to decrease shadowing.

In the new ADES solar tracker design, a battery system provides all the voltage and current necessary for all tracker movements, eliminating electrical failure of the tracker due to external factors.

This system reduces the required electrical devices facing the AC systems, simplifying operations and maintenance steps, which implies a reduction of economic costs and the risk of electrical failure due to external factors.

The company’s system isolates solar trackers from the grid, guaranteeing protection from disturbances of the electrical grid that can destabilize tracker functions.

ADES offers the shadow SOLARFARM program for free download at the company’s website www.ades.tv. It was created to facilitate the task of engineering design for customers and installers who want to implant ADES solar trackers into their projects.

SOLARFARM provides a graphic 3D space that allows the analysis and optimization of photovoltaic parks designed with ADES Solar Trackers. The optimization process helps to obtain higher production when facing lower occupancy of the land.

The application allows the user to load the actual topographic information of the project site, so accuracy is very high. The program also allows for the spotting of shadows from buildings or obstacles to calculate all possible interference of the sunbeams by the different elements.

SOLARFARM allows users to study daily shadow behavior for each individual tracker at any time of the year. With this information, it can be predicted with extreme detail which trackers will generate higher production, and possible solutions can be explored for the trackers that may suffer more shadowing.

ADES is an international research and development engineering firm with its own technologies, generating EUR77 million worth of turnover in 2008. The Spanish research and design engineering company has more than 150 MW of solar trackers installed since 2004 and has activity in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Canada.

Recognized by its solar trackers (with 150 MW installed), ADES will soon introduce new product ranges: tilting wind turbines, off-grid equipment solutions, and solar houses.


- Katrice R. Jalbuena