Comment by robbiep
1 day ago
There is also this company [0] The founder is a friend of mine and they’re growing very quickly particularly across mining and remote sites in Australia.
Interestingly he said the efficiency loss from having panels mounted at the ‘wrong’ angle is essentially nothing particularly when you consider the increased density and reduction in site prep/installation. They can literally install a couple hundred kW in an afternoon
[0] https://5b.co/
Hi, I've got a project that your friend's company would be perfect to help with - any chance of an intro?
Australian tech is so mining and property focused its crazy to me sometimes (especially here in WA)
With the cost of panels as cheap as they are these days it makes much more sense to buy more panels rather than spending lots of money on trying to have everything like a perfect 35 degrees south facing angle. Even on a house, if you have a north facing roof, put up a separate string on that side if the budget permits.
This is also why 2-axis and 3-axis tracker mechanisms are rarely seen these days, the cost of foundation/structure to build a thing on a concrete and steel pier that can 'steer' just six 1.65x1.0 meter size panels is extreme. It's like a big sail in wind loading so it takes a lot of steel and structure to resist that.
If I'm understanding this right, it looks it comes packaged in a 40' ISO standard cargo container, then you use some piece of construction equipment to pull it sideways (on a skid?) out of the container, then pull the string lengthwise across the ground to unfold it to its full length.
The website says "shallow ground penetration" which sounds to me like some sort of anchors that are drilled into the surface then bolts run down into them (such as with a construction team using the largest size of battery operated Milwaukee hammer drills?), or similar.
https://5b.co/en/5b-maverick
Yep that’s pretty much it as far as I know. I think they’ve been floated as the deployment mechanism for the SunSolar/sunCable powering Singapore from the NT (…if that ever happens)
I think it comes in pretty useful at temporary sites and for disaster relief but not sure if it’s been deployed for that yet
reminds military pontoon bridge deployment.