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<DIV><SPAN class=734051322-10082011><FONT face=Arial>While the cost of PV has
been driven down by worldwide demand for mW scale installations, that lower cost
benefit flows down to small installation too. And the same is true with
trackers. Huge increases in demand have driven competition which has
brought manufacturing costs down, which in return, has forced
more efficent design and manufacturing process in order to remain
competitive. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=734051322-10082011></SPAN><SPAN class=734051322-10082011><FONT
face=Arial>Especially true in the Euro market is the fact that many mWs of
PV installs are on trackers. One primary reason is the increased
power gained by moving further north away from the equator, a subtle but
very real available gain in daily insolation we in southern climates
don't share the benefit from. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=734051322-10082011><FONT
face=Arial>It's to a point that, in utility scale tracker installs at least, the
too-high price of the land for the array is more likely to be a deal-breaker
than the cost of the PV. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=734051322-10082011><FONT face=Arial>While the $/W still follows
the economy-of-scale curve the PV prices are less a factor than previously
observed. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=734051322-10082011><FONT face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Jim
Duncan</STRONG></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>North Texas Renewable
Energy</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>NABCEP Certified Solar
PV</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Installer
No.031310-57</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>TECL
27398</STRONG></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:ntrei@1scom.net"><FONT face=Arial
size=2><STRONG>ntrei@1scom.net</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT face=Arial
size=2><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>817.917.0527</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.ntrei.com/"><FONT face=Arial
size=2><STRONG>www.ntrei.com</STRONG></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Jeff
Oldham<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, August 10, 2011 3:39 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [RE-wrenches]
Tracstar Linear Tracker<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR>Tracstar is as good as any of them, however I would not track this
array unless it is dedicated to a pumping load or MAYBE grid tie on a PBI. My
issue is that PV is too cheap now to do much in the way of justification for
the added expense and reliability issues. We are so lucky to have energy
systems that can produce power with no moving parts and have an extremely long
life that I just cannot see intentionally adding complex and expensive moving
parts to undo this elegance. Closely look at your math and see just how close
the economics are considering PV can be retailed for likely under $2.20/W.
Lastly and perhaps most importantly, you should consider tracker service life.
With modules lasting 50+ years you surely will have to replace the tracker
well before the array, if not twice or more. Personally, I think trackers
lasting more than 15-20 years w/o significant servicing is not realistic. Not
much in the solar world more aggravating then seeing the sun shining on the
BACK of your array at almost noon! It seems that we spend a lot of time trying
to talk customers out of sexy notions like trackers, battery back-up grid tied
systems and wind where there is little.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think trackers can have their place, but not many! And this is coming
from a guy w/a tracker for 20 years and I refuse to remove it,I just keep
rebuilding it (they are indeed very cool when working). All expansions have
been fixed mounted.<BR><BR><BR>From the Solar, Wind and Hydro powered office
of Jeff Oldham/Regenerative SOLutions</DIV><BR><BR><FONT
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