Nextracker 1.17-GW All-Terrain Solar Tracker Installation At Al Kahfah Solar Park

Nextracker, a global provider of intelligent solar tracker and software solutions, announced it was selected by ACWA Power and Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) to provide its all-terrain tracker, NX Horizon-XTR, for a 1.17-GW installation at Al Kahfah Solar Power Plant, a renewable energy project in Saudi Arabia’s Central Province that is part of the National Renewable Energy Program.

Al Kahfah is one of the three major solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects being led by Badeel and ACWA Power. This solar plant will provide clean energy to the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) as part of the renewable energy projects essential to meet the targets of Vision 2030 and the Ministry of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Program to increase renewables in the nation’s energy mix to 50% by 2030. Global construction giant L&T has also been awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the Al Kahfah Solar Power Plant.

The Al Kahfah project will deploy Nextracker’s NX Horizon-XTR smart solar tracker systems. The area the solar plant will occupy is dominated by a hilly, hard-soil land surface that would typically require a combination of explosives and grading machines to flatten the land the new solar tracking system will cover. First delivered in 2018 and now operating across dozens of utility scale projects around the world, Nextracker’s all-terrain solar tracker system has been shown to conform to the natural terrain to reduce the need for costly land grading while significantly reducing environmental impact.

The Al Kahfah project in Saudi Arabia represents Nextracker’s largest deployment of its NX Horizon-XTR solar tracker technology in a single order to date. This planned Al Kahfah installation has also contributed to Nextracker achieving a significant milestone in the growing Middle East, India, and Africa (MEIA) solar energy market. This 1.17-GW order further reinforces Nextracker’s commitment to this market, having more than 10 GW of smart solar trackers either operational or under fulfilment across the region.

As part of its support to ACWA Power and the Al Kahfah project, Nextracker has extended its domestic content and capacity development program in the Kingdom. Nextracker has engaged a range of local partners in providing raw material and manufacturing support for its trackers at plants across the region.

Nextracker previously partnered with ACWA Power and L&T on the Sudair Solar PV Plant (906 MW) to provide its intelligent solar trackers boosting energy generation for these plants.

“We are honored to partner again with both ACWA Power and Larsen & Toubro Ltd for another significant project in the region,” said Dan Shugar, Nextracker founder and chief executive officer (CEO). “This partnership has contributed greatly to Nextracker’s local commitment with more than 10 GW of solar trackers already installed or under fulfilment across the MEIA region’s rapidly expanding solar energy market. We are confident that Nextracker will contribute greatly to the Al Kahfah plant — yet another example of Saudi government leadership in the energy transition and of the dominance of solar technology driving the transition to renewables in the region.”

“We are looking forward to a successful commissioning of this important new plant to ensure ongoing delivery of reliable, low-cost clean energy for families and businesses,” said Marco Arcelli, ACWA Power CEO. “Our partnerships with technology providers such as Nextracker are essential in supporting our role in Saudi Arabia’s ambitious National Renewable Energy Plan to increase the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix to 50% by 2030.”

“Nextracker’s solutions offer great flexibility to configure solar tracking systems at project sites for premium performance,” said Bharathi Kumar, general manager of Renewable International of Larsen & Toubro Construction. “The pre-assembled components, single-row architecture and robotic cleaning compatibility ensure efficient operations and management over the lifecycle of every project. Nextracker’s robust design with keen emphasis on wind engineering make its trackers most suitable for the region.”