Solar energy tracking on-site energy prices

(Source: Soltec) Trackers have been around for many years, but recent periods of high module prices accelerated their awareness in the market, helping them evolve as a compelling option for mounting solar modules. Now with rock-bottom module prices, those days appear gone for good.

Real-time prices can spike all the way up to $5/kWh based on supply and demand in the energy market. That means that the solar power you send back to the grid can be very valuable when there's high demand for power. You can read more about energy markets and prices here.

But even during these times of volatile and low module price levels, trackers still find a business case – the ability to enhance the system's power yield still justifies the use of trackers. Moreover, they can bring system flexibility as grid expansion often is not coping with the growth of solar.

This is what's known as solar buyback. Since real-time prices are published by ERCOT in 15-minute intervals, your solar will earn a credit equivalent to how much you sold back multiplied by what the price was during those 15 minutes.

It said that from 2023, it foresees a “normalization of prices with a price drop expected in all markets driven by increasing module efficiency and tracker technology developments.” (see Key To Maximizing Energy Yield In Utility-Scale Projects) Antai estimates the typical cost for its tracker systems to be around 0.4 to 0.5 RMB/W.

Ballpark, the cost for a 1P dual-row tracker ranges from €0.07/W to €0.09/W and may increase by an additional €0.01/W for fully single-row trackers, according to Gonzalo Baselga Navarro, the chief business development officer at Gonvarri Solar Steel (GSS).