Trina Solar and MPower sign agreement for solar modules and trackers

Trina Solar has signed a Master Supply Agreement with MPower, which plans to have a portfolio of more than 30 small utility-scale solar farms and battery energy storage with total capacity of more than 200 MW across Australia’s eastern states as part of a wider rollout of distribution connected renewable energy assets.

The agreement covers the first five utility-scale solar farms and follows a period of collaboration between the parties, including detailed product testing. MPower is a technology-led clean energy company based in Sydney, with a long history specialising in the delivery and operation of on-grid and off-grid power solutions for blue chip corporate and government customers.

Under the agreement, Trina Solar has agreed to supply an initial 39.5 MWp of solar modules and 31.2 MWp of TrinaTracker Vanguard 1P trackers for delivery in this year’s fourth quarter through to next year’s fourth quarter. The modules are the large formal Vertex N bifacial module with iTOPCon (NEG21C.20) and the Vertex bifacial module (DEG21C.20).

The application of Trina’s technology to MPower’s asset suite will be a major opportunity for growth within Australia’s multibillion-dollar renewable energy market, supporting the ongoing rollout of MPower’s renewable energy project suite with world-leading technology and solar component parts.

Edison Zhou, Head of Trina Solar in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, said, “This deal demonstrates Trina Solar’s uniquely integrated solution, because this is a first-of-its-kind multi-site master supply agreement in Australia that includes modules and trackers within a simple, single arrangement from a one-stop shop, Trina Solar.”

Andrew Gilhooly, Head of Utility Solutions and Storage for Asia Pacific at Trina Solar, said, “The innovative contract structure under this arrangement enables MPower to navigate pricing uncertainty on modules and trackers with confidence over a prolonged implementation timescale, where individual project characteristics on the entire portfolio of sites may initially be unknown or uncertain. For the sub 5 MW AC segment in Australia this is important for our customers, as it enables them to scale quickly and successfully execute more projects within a more expedient timeframe.”

TrinaTracker 1P Vanguard trackers are compatible with modules from various manufacturers including Trina Solar’s Vertex 700 W+ modules. The tracker also comes with ‘SuperTrack’ intelligent tracking technology delivering an additional yield boost, simulated by TrinaTracker’s Performance Engineering team to exceed 3.5% on those MPower sites with uneven terrain, through the avoidance of row-to-row shading, and has been independently verified to boost energy up to 8% on some projects.

In Australia and New Zealand, over 100 MW of projects with SuperTrack have been successfully deployed on TrinaTracker. The tracker control system also ensures resistance to the harsh weather encountered in Australia, through independent approval for deployment of trackers in cyclonic regions and rapid automatic stow in hailstorms, which reduces the impact energy of large hail and mitigates energy loss from glass breakage and cell micro-cracking on the modules.

TrinaTracker has taken a collaborative and flexible approach to accommodating MPower’s requirements to reduce construction and maintenance time, a key concern in high labour cost markets like Australia.

This includes developing a split spherical bearing design to enable ultra-rapid drop-in-place installation of the torque tube, and a one-piece TrinaClamp solution which has been specifically engineered for the large format modules and reduces module fixation time by half.

Image credit: iStock.com/alfexe