Higher yield by retrofitting to the MLD technology from DEGER: Retrofitting of astronomical systems
At the peak times of the solar energy market, many new manufacturers of tracking systems appeared each company with its own and unique solution. But several of them couldn’t stand the market pressure and retreated from the solar market. Others were not able to keep their promises of higher yield and a maintenance-free system – this was the case with our new customers in Greece.
One solar park in the Greek city of Oinofita consists of seven dual-axis astronomical controlled trackers in total. But the owner experienced problems with the tracking functionality of the existing systems, and due to the high maintenance expenses for astronomical tracking, the park operator KEPANAPE LTD decided on retrofitting to the patented MLD technology from DEGER. The Greek branch manager Ioannis Markopoulos of DEGERhellas and his team participated with this project and developed a technique for converting the astronomical systems to a sensor-controlled technology.
The solar park has an installed capacity of 100 kWp. To show the effect significantly, a tracker with an installed capacity of 13.4 kW was chosen which was previously equipped with astronomical tracking and also encounters shadowing in the afternoon. The previous control unit was removed and equipped with two MLD sensors from DEGER. The effect of the sensor-controlled tracking quickly became apparent. After just one day the yield of the solar modules was improved by 7%!
Nearly all installed tracking systems can increase their yield significantly by retrofitting to the MLD technology. After a very satisfying experience with the MLD technology from DEGER the customer plans on further trackers to be retrofitted. Therefore the solar park will achieve higher yields and operate more efficient and more profitably in the future.
