Solar Tracker Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The solar tracker market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 13% over the period of 2021-2026. The COVID-19 pandemic has slightly affected the market in terms of project delays and supply chain disruptions during Q1 and Q2 2020. In addition to this, the lack of investment for tracker systems during 2020 has also affected the growth of the market during that period. However, factors such as supportive government policies and efforts to meet the increasing power demand using renewable energy sources are expected to create a favorable market for solar panels as well as for solar trackers in the coming years. Limited land availability and growing power demand result in capacity enhancement of fixed solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels using solar trackers. On the other hand, the high initial investment required to install a tracking system, design complexity, maintenance cost, and limited capacity of solar tracking systems are expected to restrain the usage of solar trackers. Adding to this, due to the high cost of solar trackers, its application is mostly limited to usage in the utility sector, whereas non-utility segments such as commercial and residential prefer fixed platform solar PV panels only.

Key Highlights

• The single-axis solar trackers are being accepted widely in the market globally. Low cost and less complexity in design in comparison to dual-axis trackers are the significant reasons for the growing popularity of single-axis trackers.
• Energy companies and governments are facing a challenge to increase the power capacity, not only for future projects but also for active projects. With the installation of solar trackers, a capacity surge of 20%-35% can be achieved. This, in turn, is expected to create a significant amount of opportunities for the companies involved in solar tracking system manufacturing in the near future.
• North America has dominated the market of solar trackers, where the United States emerged as a significant customer with solar trackers installed in more than 70% of projects by the end of 2019.

Key Market Trends

Single Axis Solar Trackers to Dominate the Market

• A solar tracker enhances the production capacity of the solar panel system by aligning the solar panel along with the direction of sunlight. The solar tracker alters the alignment of the photovoltaic (PV) panel in such a way that the sunlight falls perpendicularly on the panel and giving maximum power output. However, they are less effective when they move farther toward the northern regions because the variance of the solar angle is higher between the summer and winter seasons in locations far from the equator.
• Nextracker Inc., which is contributing one-third of the tracker market, is solely working on the single-axis solar trackers, and it emerged as the leading player in 2019.
• In April 2019, PV hardware Solutions S.L.U., a significant player in the solar tracker market, was selected as the supplier for their single-axis solar tracker for more than 30 PV plants generating more than 3 GW of power.
• The single-axis solar tracker is 50% costly than a fixed PV panel setup but provides an extra 25%-35% surge in capacity. Its simple design offers the highest density of PV panel placement per square and has a shorter payback time.
• Currently, horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT) are the leading choice among trackers since they can deliver 20-30% more energy without the added cost and complexities of dual-axis tracking systems. In addition, the decline in single-axis tracking system cost is increasing the popularity of SATs, which in turn, hindering the growth of the dual-axis trackers market.

North America to Dominate the Market

• North America is dominating the solar tracker market and is expected to continue its dominance in the coming years as well.
• In December 2019, EDF Renewables, one of the largest renewable developers in North America, partnered with Array Technologies to supply 2 GW single-axis solar tracking equipment to deploy on projects that will be developed in the coming years.
• On the other hand, rising concerns and protests for dependency on fossil fuels along with favorable government policies to adopt renewable are expected to stimulate the Mexican solar tracker market. In March 2018, Enel Group inaugurated a solar PV plant in Mexico that will be generating 1700 GWh of electricity annually at a fully operational stage.
• According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, as of July 2019, a large number of utility-scale solar power plants are expected to come up in the coming years in the United States. ​
• In 2019, NexTracker received an order of 3.4 GW of the solar tracker, which was completed in March 2020. With various utility-scale projects expected to come up during the forecast period, the demand for solar tracker in the United States is likely to increase during the forecast period.
• Therefore, factors such as upcoming projects related to solar PV tracking systems along with supportive government policies and efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based power are expected to drive the solar tracker market in the region.

Competitive Landscape

The solar tracker market is moderately consolidated. Some of the major players in this market include NexTracker Inc., Array Technologies Inc., PV Hardware Solutions S.L.U., Arctech Solar Holding Co. Ltd, Soltec Energias Renovables SL, Nclave Renewable SL, Valmont Industries Inc., and Soluciones Tecnicas Integrales Norland SL.

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