The U.S.-based mounting system manufacturer GameChange Solar had its »Genius Tracker« system tested by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center at the University of California, Berkeley. The tests were conducted in accordance with the IEEE 693 seismic design standard and simulated extreme earthquake conditions as they occur in high-risk areas, such as the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The NMSZ is the most active seismic region in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains and extends approximately 240 kilometers from northeastern Arkansas to Illinois.
During the test, a complete tracking system with mounted modules was subjected to progressively increased seismic loads, including broadband excitation and high-performance tests up to a spectral acceleration of 2.5 g. According to GameChange Solar, no structural damage occurred to key components such as torque tubes, bearings, supports, and actuators. The seismic design features, including the Lateral Capture System developed by GameChange, functioned as intended and effectively distributed the loads during the tests. No microcracks appeared in the modules, and power losses were negligible; the degradation of the PV modules used was less than one percent.
»As solar expands into seismic-risk regions like California, Chile, and the New Madrid Fault Zone, the industry has had negligible real-world data on how modern utility scale trackers and modules perform in an earthquake,« said Scott Van Pelt, chief engineer at GameChange Solar. »This test changes that. We now have conclusive evidence that a solar tracking system, such as GameChange’s Genius Tracker, can be designed to withstand the forces associated with a meaningful earthquake.«
The results of these tests are described in the white paper »Seismic Shake Table Testing of Single Axis Solar Trackers,« available on the GameChange Solar website.
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