SmartFlower and sun tracking in distributed generation

Sun-tracking occupies a niche band in distributed generation. The publication presents nature-inspired solar projects, among them SmartFlower, which unfolds like a flower and follows the sun through the day to increase capture compared with fixed arrays.

The publication does not say who pays for the maintenance of the tracking mechanism over the life of the asset. Report T13-25:2022 from Task 13 of IEA PVPS, on the operation and maintenance of photovoltaic plants, lists tracker motors among the spare parts the contract must keep in stock, and records, based on the Solar Bankability project survey of large-scale plants in Europe, that operation and maintenance accounts for 30% to 70% of total operational expenditure.

Capture gain is revenue. Motor, actuator and moving structure are recurring expense and downtime risk, and they appear in the operating contract, not in the equipment datasheet. In a small asset, each replacement consumes several months of margin.

What decides the viability of solar tracking is the cost of keeping the mechanism running for the life of the asset.