Trina Solar Signs Israel’s Largest Module and Tracker Deal

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- World leading PV and smart energy total solution provider Trina Solar has signed a contract with Israeli developer Teralight to provide 150MW worth of solar modules and trackers, the largest such deal in Israel.

The modules and trackers are for a solar farm, known as the Ta'anakh project, that Teralight is developing in northern Israel's Jezreel Valley.

The Ta'anakh project, once completed by 30 June 2024, will be 250MW. The 150MW deal with Trina Solar is the project's first-phase.

The solar modules Trina Solar is supplying, for the 150MW installed capacity, are 645-665W Vertex DEG21C.20 bifacial modules. Trina Solar will supply approximately 230,000 of these modules.

The tracker being supplied will be the TrinaTracker multi drive 2P Vanguard tracker. This project will be one of the first in the world to receive this uniquely integrated solution of large form factor Trina bifacial modules and intelligent single axis 2P tracker.

The multi drive arrangement with triangulated linear actuators provides best in class assurance of the tracker to incorporate these large format modules in an unequivocally structurally sound fashion, as independently verified by world leading wind consultancy RWDI, which has also unlocked additional value engineering to provide the lowest foundation count in the industry, which delivers significant savings in desert sites with hard, rocky terrain often requiring concrete micropiling.

Furthermore Trina has drawn on its deep experience in shipping multiple GWs of our integrated bifacial and module tracker solution to harsh, arid, desert locations in such locations as Uzbekistan, Western China and the Middle East and performed extensive accelerated testing in high temperature, UV and dusty environments to ensure our ruggedized components hold up to the challenging operating conditions in these desert applications with minimal downtime.

"Israel is a country renowned for being an early adopter of new technology," says Li Na, Trina Solar general manager for Israel, Japan and Korea. "Vertex bifacial modules coupled with the TrinaTracker second generation 2P Vanguard tracker, is the latest technology available for utility-scale solar projects," she says. "This technology delivers significantly lower balance of system (BOS) cost and a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Furthermore, the high ground clearance and wide row to row distances possible with our Vanguard 2P tracker unlocks the possibility of co location of our solar trackers with agriculture, which we find is becoming increasingly important in markets which do not have muan abundance of freely available land like Israel".

Vertex DEG21C.20 bifacial modules have double-glass, a feature that is ideal for places like northern Israel that are known to be very hot, but also sometimes very humid. Double-glass enables the module to withstand such harsh conditions.

The Vertex range of modules, including the DEG21C.20 bifacial module, is at the forefront of solar module technology. The module incorporates several market-leading and innovative technologies. The module delivers high power but within a low voltage design, so there can be more modules per inverter string, significantly reducing the project's balance of system (BOS) cost. 

The module itself delivers more power because it uses larger size solar cells, 210mm-long, and incorporates other technologies. These include: multi-busbar, to increase light absorption and boost electricity generation; non-destructive cutting, so each solar cell has ultra-smooth edges; and high-density encapsulation technology to reduce the space between each solar cell so as to maximize the module's surface area.

Teralight is an established solar farm developer that is publicly listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Israel's public stock exchange.