Featured in A redrawn energy landscape – 05-2022

Blocking the big winds

Several manufacturers now offer trackers fitted with blocking mechanisms to increase wind resistance and make trackers behave more like fixed structures. Some companies even retrofit such mechanisms to existing tracker projects. pv magazine Spain’s Pilar Sanchez Molina investigates the efficacy of blocking mechanisms and other strategies to deal with high wind loads.

By

Pilar Sánchez Molina

06 May 2022

Spanish company Axial Structural Solutions launched its 2V tracker with blocking system in 2018, as a solution to allow developers to opt for trackers in regions where solar plants face strong winds. | Image: Axial Structural

In May 2018, Spain’s Axial Structural Solutions introduced a 2V tracker with a blocking system. The blocking system is a new addition that promises to reduce movement and vibrations in tracker structures, while doubling the speed of aeroelastic phenomena they can withstand. The blocking system was introduced at Intersolar Europe and exhibited in a showroom, …

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