| Horb am Neckar, Germany, May 08th, 2012. DEGERenergie has shipped 112 DEGERtraker with MLD technology to Apex Construction Services, LLC, in the USA and installed them together with Apex´ construction team.
The systems have been installed in four solar fields that began operation on April 14, 2012. The Aluminum parts are supplied by Hydro Aluminum Extrusion Americas. DEGERenergie is global market leader for solar tracking systems and operates two production facilities in North America.
Apex has established the four small solar plants with tracking technology "made in the US and Germany" as part of the TVA Renewable Energy Program, Generation Partners. TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, is a corporation owned by the U.S. government, providing electricity for 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA, which receives no taxpayer money and makes no profits, also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development. Each solar park is equipped with 28 type 6000NT DEGERtrakers and thus designed for a power of up to 200 kilowatts.
This is the first project DEGERenergie completed together with its partner Hydro Aluminum in the US. Hydro Aluminum supplies Aluminum rails for the tracker systems. In Europe, DEGERenergie has already been working with Hydro for a long time. Now, both companies have expanded their cooperation to the US market.
The 6000NT DEGERtraker is an innovative dual-axis solar tracking system which always aligns the solar modules to the brightest source in the sky to guarantee maximum yield. Thanks to this technology, DEGERenergie systems generate up to 45 percent more energy than fixed installations. The rails of the DEGERtraker are made of impact extruded Aluminum by Hydro. This material combines efficient consumption of raw material, comparatively low costs and rapid development cycles. Aluminum is corrosion resistant and highly stable. Therefore, the systems withstand even high wind speeds, practically do not bend at all and have a long service life.
Greg Brock, Co-Founder and principal at Apex: "The DEGERenergie tracking systems are working fabulously on the 112 units we installed. I am looking forward to installing many more trackers and especially more of my own..."
"DEGERenergie"s design calls for very tight tolerances," said Allan Bennett, vice president of solar market development for Hydro"s Extrusion North America unit. "Our engineering, working with DEGERenergie"s staff in Germany and production groups here, had to go above and beyond the usual to get this just right. Now we are working with them on some alloy choices that might help us make it even tighter than they originally called out."
Adam Jan Glapiak, Sales Manager for the North American market at DEGERenergie: "Our tried and tested MLD technology and our well organized partner network in Tennessee have paved our way. Not only is this a key project with which we provide cost-efficient solar energy in the supply area of TVA but also an important contribution to environmental protection in Tennessee."
The American partners and the responsible project managers at Apex were impressed by how quickly the construction teams managed to install the first tracker, said Mr. Brock, "Our team got really excited about the simple assembly and DEGERenergie"s support during installation. We are enthusiastic about the DEGER trackers and we are already planning further projects with our partners."
DEGERenergie is the global market leader for solar tracking systems. Worldwide, more than 47,000 DEGERenergie systems have been installed in 46 countries. The company is represented in Spain, Greece and North America with its own subsidiaries and cooperates with local distribution and service partners in many countries worldwide. The patented DEGERenergie Maximum Light Detection (MLD) technology makes it possible to improve the energy yield of solar power plants by up to 45 percent compared to fixed systems.
For more information: www.DEGERenergie.com.
Note for editorial staff:
Printable image material can be downloaded here (http://www.degerenergie.de/english/news/press-releases.html) at the end of the text. Of course, you can also obtain printable image material from: Herbert Grab, Phone: +49 07127-5707-10, E-mail: herbert.grab@digitmedia-online.de.
About Hydro (www.hydro.com):
Extrusion North America is a unit of Norsk Hydro, a global supplier of aluminum and aluminum products. Based in Norway, the company employs 23,000 people in 40 countries and has activities on all continents. Rooted in a century of experience in renewable energy production, technology development and progressive partnerships, Hydro is committed to strengthening the viability of the customers and communities we serve.
In North America, Hydro is a leading provider of extruded aluminum solutions including supply sourcing, extrusion, finishing, and fabrication of components, as well as contract manufacturing services, for a variety of industries. In solar activities, Hydro has been the supplier for multiple large CSP projects, and the largest CPV plant in Latin America.
For more information, please visit www.hydro.com/northamerica.
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