Client
Nextracker
Industry
Services
Project: Fixing gaps in solar analysis and collection
Nextracker, is a world leader in smart solar tracking systems used to boost the efficiency of solar analysis.
HTEC built a mobile app that enables Nextracker’s field workers to wirelessly configure solar trackers at a utility-scale and monitor their parameters in the field for safe and efficient setup and operation.
Challenge: Upgrading technology for solar energy workers
NX Horizon™ trackers are robust constructions designed for use in large solar power fields to orient a payload toward the sun to maximize solar energy collection and analysis.
Nextracker is unique in that it uses drones to scan the terrain and a special algorithm to calculate the optimal placement of trackers so that no solar panel is ever shaded by another tracker row. HTEC was initially hired to create this algorithm.
The bigger challenge, however, presented itself along the way. Nextracker wanted to improve the operational efficiency of their field workers (commissioners), whose job was to configure the trackers so that the system could function in a predicted way.
Due to using an outdated desktop application in the configuration of solar trackers, workers had to walk carrying their laptops for miles from one tracker to another in the scorching sun. To monitor and configure the parameters on each tracker, workers must connect their laptops to the device via a cable and wait for the data to be read before they can put the site in use. Besides being a tedious task, this part of the process is unnecessary and wastes time.
Solution: A mobile app that streamlines solar analysis
HTEC helped Nextracker simplify this process and enable wireless tracker control using a mobile application that connects with solar unit controller devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
The application allows field workers and engineers to wirelessly check parameters and track solar units on interactive maps, zoom in on each unit, and read the data coming from it quickly and easily.
The app was tested by the commissioners in the field. Positive feedback poured in as evidence that HTEC’s solution truly allows field commissioners to work faster and more efficiently.
The mobile application HTEC designed and built uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to collect and display the important parameters from solar trackers in an intuitive user interface and show each tracker on interactive maps for better navigation and data collection.
Success: A rise in field worker efficiency and job satisfaction
By using the app, commissioners will be able to see themselves on the interactive map, locate the tracker they are testing, load the tracker’s parameters automatically into the app, and configure them on the go on their mobile devices.
During the testing phase, use of the application immediately led to an outstanding increase in field worker efficiency and their satisfaction with the job, which allows them to engage in solar analysis faster and with less effort.
