16 July 2013. MECASOLAR hit a record high of 400MW solar trackers supplied to and installed in more than 40 countries. In addition, the company got new orders for 200MW of HORIZONTAL SINGLE-AXIS solar trackers to be delivered over the next two years, which means that, by the end of 2015, it will have manufactured and installed 600MW in solar trackers worldwide.
These figures place the multinational firm among the leading companies in the solar PV industry. MECASOLAR provides a wide array of solutions including PV structures (azimuth or polar-aligned single-axis trackers, horizontal single-axis and dual-axis trackers, and fixed structures, all of them with Mecascrew foundation screws).
All products delivered by the company meet the most important quality standards in America and Europe, including UL (USA), CE (EU), ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. It is worth mentioning that MECASOLAR was granted the SOLAR AWARD 2009.
By market, until the second half of 2013, America will represent 23% sales and Oceania, 6%, while Europe, where the PV sector has expanded since 2006, is home to 69% of the installations. Asia and Africa get 1% MECASOLAR sales. By country, Spain, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, USA, Mexico, Canada and Australia are the main buyers of the firm’s products.
If Europe has been the ‘natural’ market for MECASOLAR, the trend is expected to reverse in the next few years, since forecasts for 2015 (when another 200MW will be added to the already installed 400MW), America will represent 43% company sales and Europe, 27%, with Asia (12%), Africa (10%) and Oceania (8%) accounting for lower volumes. ‘These forecasts have to do with the fact that we are focusing on USA, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, India and other strategic markets we’re currently operating in,’ said MECASOLAR sources.
Capacity & products
One of the key factors in the internationalisation of MECASOLAR is the capacity to deliver products through partners based in the countries the firm operates in, who manufacture the products locally, meeting the quality standards established and strictly controlled by the company. Thanks to this policy, MECASOLAR can ensure the production volume required in each country. In addition, in some markets the company launched a marketing strategy involving manufacturing licences granted to local partners under the label ‘Licensed by MECASOLAR’.
As for the MECASOLAR product range, in 2012 it added the 144kWp HORIZONTAL SINGLE-AXIS solar tracker in various forms, which were highly successful worldwide. This tracker’s modular, low height structure is characterised by its simple assembly, similar to fixed mount systems at comparable prices, with the advantage of increased output (up to +28% depending on the installation’s position). The tracker can have up to 12 axes moved by a single motor, and each axis can carry up to 48 modules, 11.6kW per axis. This means that each horizontal tracker with a single motor can reach a power of 144kWp.
European R&D project: OPTIMUS
Furthermore, MECASOLAR is the leader in a European R&D project, OPTIMUS, to develop new, more efficient and durable materials for solar PV trackers to fulfil the demand for new technology in the solar industry in terms of lower tracker weight and reduced use of materials. The project, co-funded by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), is budgeted at more than €830,000.
It is meant to be a technological leap with regard polymer-cement composite fibres, resulting in materials with improved corrosion resistance and enhanced durability.