What is a Solar Tracker? Everything You Need to Know
Over 3.6 million Australian households, or one in three homes, currently use solar panels to generate their energy.
As a renewable energy source, solar power offers a range of benefits, from minimising greenhouse gas emissions and lowering electricity bills to encouraging energy independence. It also reduces reliance on the electricity grid, meaning that you have lifelong access to a sustainable source of energy to reliably run your home’s appliances and systems.
Installing a solar tracker is one way of maximising this energy production, ensuring that you can make the most of the abundant sunshine. However, these systems often come with a high price tag and can be difficult to maintain – so are they really worth the investment?
We take a deep dive into the world of solar trackers, exploring how they work, various types, and the benefits of including them in your solar power setup.
What is a Solar Tracker?
A solar tracker is a device designed to monitor the sun’s path through the day as it moves across the sky.
The photovoltaic (PV) cells within solar panel systems work most efficiently when directly exposed to the sun, which changes angles throughout the year as the earth’s tilt alters. This means that the sun is higher in the sky, visible for longer, and travels a longer arc length during the summer, while being lower and shorter in the winter months.
A solar tracking system can therefore be used to increase the effectiveness of solar modules on your roof space, ensuring that they are exposed to as much sunlight as possible to produce more renewable energy. This energy can then be used as a sustainable grid electricity alternative to power kitchen appliances, hot water heaters, cooling systems, and more.
How Do Solar Trackers Work?
The main goal of a solar tracker system is to maximise the generation of renewable solar energy. They do this by adjusting their axis to move solar cells and point them towards the sun’s most optimal position throughout the day.
However, different solar trackers work in slightly different ways, depending on the solar tracking mechanism used:
Active Trackers
Active trackers require a source of energy to point solar panels toward the sun, which is usually generated from the PV system itself. For instance, they’re often powered by electrical components such as light-sensing photosensors, motors, and gear trains.
Active trackers generally have higher maintenance costs than other solar trackers due to their moving parts, which are more susceptible to breaking over the system’s lifetime.
However, they’re also often more accurate, making them ideal for larger or more complex commercial solar installations.
Passive Trackers
Unlike an active tracking system, passive trackers don’t use any power. They instead operate with a hydraulic mechanism that uses heat, rather than an external source of energy.
Heat from the sun causes a compressed gas fluid within the system, which has a low boiling point, to evaporate. This creates gas pressure and triggers an imbalance within the tilt system, therefore causing the hydraulic mechanism to move and point your solar panels toward the sun.
Passive trackers are cheaper to buy and operate, making them ideal for simple residential solar panel systems. Despite this, they’re not as accurate as active trackers and often don’t work as effectively in cold temperatures, because the fluid takes longer to heat up.
Manual Solar Trackers
A manual solar tracker must be physically adjusted throughout the day to ensure that solar panels are in the optimal position for collecting sunlight.
While they do have lower maintenance costs, manual solar trackers are the least practical option of the three. This is because they require constant monitoring by a dedicated person who can change the position of the solar panel system as the sun moves.
Solar Tracker Types
Active, passive, and manual solar trackers can also be divided into further categories based on the direction in which they move. Let’s take a look at the differences between a single and dual axis solar tracker to help you decide which is best for your property.
Single Axis Solar Tracker
A single axis tracker follows the sun’s position moving east to west, from sunrise to sunset. The mechanism rotates in only one plane, either on a polar axis where the cells stand up at a tilt, or on a horizontal axis where they lie flat.
A polar single axis tracker is more suitable for regions located far from the equator, such as southern Australia. Horizontal axis’ are better for northern Australian states closer to the equator where the sun’s path is less variable throughout the day.
Single axis solar trackers are more structurally stable than dual axis trackers and offer great weather resistance, while increasing solar energy output by 25 to 35%.
They are most often used in large solar power systems that feed energy directly into the solar grid, such as power plants. Known as utility-scale solar, these projects are built by developers for utility companies under power purchase agreements.
Dual Axis Tracking System
As well as monitoring the sun’s path from east to west, a dual axis tracker follows the sun moving from north to south. By positioning cells perpendicular to the sun’s rays, a dual axis tracking system therefore offers complete tracking at all angles.
Dual axis trackers boost energy production more than those that operate on just one axis, increasing it by approximately 40%, which is ideal for smaller commercial solar panels that have limited roof space. This ensures you can generate enough energy to meet your home’s needs.
Due to being more complex, a dual axis tracker system can be more expensive. However, it makes an ideal choice for areas with greater latitudes, particularly in southern Australian states, where the sun’s height and arc vary more from season to season.
Benefits of Using a Solar Tracker
Still unsure of whether solar trackers are the best option for your home? Here are 4 key pros of purchasing either a single or dual axis tracker for your property:
1. Increases Energy Output
In general, solar trackers are more effective than a fixed array as they follow the sun’s movements.
This ensures that your solar panels are always exposed to optimal levels of sunlight for generating climate-smart energy, no matter the time of day or year.
2. Ideal for Small Properties
Not all homes have huge roofs, which can put a limit on the amount of energy your solar panels produce.
Installing a consumer-grade solar tracker helps to tackle the problem of limited roof space, meaning you can get the most out of the solar panels you do have.
3. Reduces Energy Bills
Using a solar tracker means that you’ll be able to generate more energy during peak hours, like mornings and evenings.
This reduces your reliance on the electricity grid, which can be more expensive throughout these busier hours. It’s also a great way to tackle those rising energy costs!
4. Allows you to use feed-in tariffs
Your home may not be able to fully utilise all of the energy that your solar system is generating, particularly if you’re using a solar tracker to monitor the sun’s movements.
You may therefore be able to feed any excess electricity produced back into the grid and receive financial compensation from your energy retailer.
Boost Your Solar Energy Output Today
Although they expose your panels to more sunlight, solar trackers are expensive and can often double the cost of installing a system. In some cases, investing in more solar panels may be the cost-effective option, particularly in a climate that’s sunny all year round like ours here in Australia.
Whether you’re looking to upgrade to a more effective solar system, invest in a solar tracker, or simply add more solar panels to your current system, Volteam is here to help.
We’ve been powering sustainable Australian energy with solar power systems for more than two decades, through reliable installation and maintenance services. Our experts are licensed and CEC-accredited to help you find the ultimate solar charger setup for your home or business, with unbeatable quality-price rations plus comprehensive pre-and post-sales support.
Contact Volteam at 1300 865 832 or request your free quote online and let us take care of your solar energy needs today.
