Tracker Supply Chains and Broken Glass Pose ‘Huge’ Risk for PV Project Performance
By Joerg Althaus
In this PV Tech article, Joerg Althaus, Director of Engineering Services and Quality Assurance at Clean Energy Associates, warns that racking complexity, corrosion, and evolving supply chains pose growing risks to solar PV projects. He also stresses that thinner, larger modules are increasingly prone to glass breakage and defects, underscoring the need for rigorous quality control and trusted partnerships.”
Racking supply chains and assessments (pictured) are often complex, Joerg Althaus said.
Just as the big-picture challenges facing solar PV projects change—from trade and political uncertainty to economic shocks and growing public opposition to utility-scale solar—some aspects of the technology at large have stabilised.
Readily available low-priced modules and the consolidation of the major Chinese manufacturers around tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology has brought predictability to the stuff of solar, even as the political landscape goes through another spasm. However, this is not to say that this stabilisation has eliminated every technical issue associated with the sector…
Read the full PV TECH article.
Joerg Althaus is Director of Engineering Services and Quality Assurance at CEA.
