From pv magazine USA
The solar industry has historically thrived on nice, flat parcels of land for project development. Viewed through a product development lens, the early “customer use case” – flat sites – shaped the product requirements for tracking technologies (favoring long, continuous torque tube designs for optimal economics) and the project design tools that supported them.
But now, the customer use case is changing – and fast.
During a recent webinar hosted by pv magazine, attendees were asked about terrain in their project pipelines. Of nearly 300 participants, a staggering 97% reported that at least a quarter of their pipeline involved challenging terrain.
It’s worth noting that this is after “challenging terrain” was defined as featuring one or both of steep slopes and undulating land, not just the gently sloping hills that the industry has become accustomed to.
With solar demand growing, the availability of flat land will only increase the percentage of terrain-challenged projects.
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