Business
Shoals Technologies and Nextracker Innovate to Launch North-South Big Lead Assembly (BLA) Product for Solar EBOS
New North-South BLA trunk bus optimizes EBOS installation, long-term O&M and delivers overall project savings compared to conventional wiring methods
About this update from Shoals Technologies Group, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"New North-South BLA trunk bus optimizes EBOS installation, long-term O&M and delivers overall project savings compared to conventional wiring methods\nPORTLAND, Tenn., Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. (“Shoals” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: SHLS), a leading provider of electrical balance of systems (EBOS) solutions for solar, storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, and Nextracker LLC, the global market leader in utility-scale solar trackers, today unveiled a new North-South Big Lead Assembly (BLA) trunk bus product. Shoals’ latest innovation will be on display at the RE+ trade show in Anaheim, California, September 20-22 (Booth #1304). Since 2017, Shoals’ award-winning BLA has revolutionized EBOS for utility-scale solar, enabling a faster, safer, more reliable and more cost-effective installation. Nextracker’s award-winning NX HorizonTM tracker features independent rows, allowing personnel and equipment to traverse the full length of multiple tracker rows freely. This unencumbered site access reduces the time and labor required for vegetation management, panel cleaning, and general site maintenance activities throughout the life of the project by up to 50%. To address challenges associated with site access, Shoals and Nextracker collaborated to innovate a new North-South BLA trunk product, which is specially optimized for NX HorizonTM tracker rows. In this North-South BLA product, the trunk bus runs parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the torque tube and transition boxes along the North-South row step down the size of the trunk bus along the tracker rows. Without any structures to impede site access, ongoing power plant O&M is simpler and faster. Compared to conventional in-field North-South wiring methods, Shoals North-South BLA delivers a 43% savings in PV wiring installation labor, a 60% savings in DC wiring O&M, and a 0.25% increase in energy yield due to less DC wiring voltage drop. “We are proud to partner with Nextracker to make our leading solar ecosystems work optimally together, resulting in utility-scale solar that is more cost effective for our customers,” said Jason Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer of Shoals. “We will continue to innovate collaboratively with Nextracker to enhance our North-South BLA product to further optimize its architecture and installation...