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Energy

Rapid-deployment solar arrays cut energy cost up to 20%, says 5B

By Loz Blain
December 20, 2022
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Three people and a forklift can put together a megawatt-scale solar farm in a week, says 5B
5B
Three people and a forklift can put together a megawatt-scale solar farm in a week, says 5B
5B
5B has installed its rapid-deployment Maverick system at more than 100 sites
5B
The hinged panel modules fold up into shipping containers, then fold out on site
5B
View gallery - 3 images

Australian company 5B has developed a hinged, folding solar array for ridiculously quick and easy installation at industrial scale. In May, 5B showed just how quick: a team of 10 covered the area of a soccer field with a 1.1-MW array in a single day.

The company says it's not just the fastest array to install – it's also much easier to pack down and move than other designs, making it appropriate for non-permanent sites.

The idea here is simple enough – 5B pre-fabricates "Maverick" blocks of 40-90 large solar panels in a factory. Rows of cells are hinged at either end, allowing them to fold neatly up into a shipping container. They go onto trucks to be taken out to the site, where they're taken off the truck using a forklift. It only takes a team of three people to unfold the blocks into arrays and connect them up, and that team of three can deploy about a megawatt of solar a week.

5B has installed its rapid-deployment Maverick system at more than 100 sites
5B

The company says its east/west layout delivers up to two times the energy of a single-axis tracker setup for a given land area, and this, as well as the quicker, cheaper, plug-and-play installation process, results in a final energy cost reduction of up to 20%.

The cost of the panels themselves was always the biggest line item for early solar arrays, so installation costs were a lot less significant in the scheme of things. That's changed somewhat as panel prices have come down – according to an IRENA report from 2019, installation costs can range from 10% to more than a quarter of the total cost of a solar farm.

So an industrial-scale array that can be deployed so quickly using so few workers would definitely appear to be a big advantage. 5B is already shipping internationally – indeed, it's record-setting deployment in May was done in Chile. The company has already deployed the Maverick solution at around 10 sites, with a total generation capacity over 60 MW, and it's also moving to build a manufacturing and assembly hub in North America.

Check out the process in the video below.

Source: 5B

View gallery - 3 images

Tags

EnergySolar PowerClean EnergyRenewable EnergyPhotovoltaic
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Loz Blain
Loz leads the New Atlas team as Editorial Director, after nearly two decades as one of our most versatile writers. He's also proven himself as a photographer, videographer, presenter, producer and podcast engineer. A graduate in Psychology, former business analyst and touring musician, he's covered just about everything for New Atlas, concentrating lately on clean energy, AI, humanoid robotics, next-gen aircraft, and the odd bit of music, motorcycles and automotive.
9 comments
paul314
Can they get a little better by working on south-facing slopes? (Albeit ground prep and erosion might limit things)
jzj
I tremendously dislike this attitude toward the earth -- scraping and leveling the land and covering it like concrete for the next 30 years, and doubtless killing it for many years after as the soil microbes die from lack of water, light, and plant matter. I greatly prefer agrivoltaics, which gathers energy (yes, at a reduced dollar value compared to this scab on the planet) yet doing while allowing the land to be healthy and useful. I really hope agrovoltaics wins out.
Slawdog
I live near one of the largest soon to be solar installations in the world (Mammoth - Doral LLC). They need to be next to high power transmission lines capable of carrying it for economic viability if you are talking industrial scale application and east west configuration on flat ground is obviously ideal. For domestic purposes put them wherever you want.
moreover
The US startup Erthos is also going with flat ground mounting and claims similar 20% savings but I must say l like how the Aussies give it "a twist". Also, in many energy markets the power produced in the morning and at the close of the day is priced higher.
Robert
Who would have thought that nitpickers gonna keep looking for downsides of something as good as free current from sky. But microbes! Offer better solution.
TomLeeM
I think that is neat. One could use them in emergency situations. I think it would be great for summer and taken up when there is snow (which would keep them from working if there is a lot of snow on it and help keep the cold from damaging it). I think solar power is only part of the solution.
MCG
I like it, but the microbe comment may have a point, even though where these were put, little grows there. I wonder if these could be raised just a bit to create some kind of friendly farming underneath, potato crops, mushrooms? It would add cost to have some kind of framework that could be raised and lowered to attend to the crops, however the crops would produce a lot of revenue. It is important that we work with the environment. That said, this is an exciting step towards clean energy freedom.
ljaques
When you absolutely =must= have 1.3 gigawatts in a month to charge your car...these might work.
I also like and would prefer to see some combo of agrivoltaics, wind, wave, and SMR nuclear together.
Gene Preston
Are you sure they are anchored to the ground well enough to avoid high winds from damaging the panels?
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