RayTracker
RayTracker designs and manufactures tracking systems for solar PV plants.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor | €0.0 | round |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
RayTracker, Inc. operated as a manufacturer of utility-grade single-axis photovoltaic tracking systems, an essential component for utility-scale solar farms. The company was founded by Kang Sun and originated as a product group within Energy Innovations, another Idealab-backed company, before being spun out as a separate entity in March 2009. RayTracker's business model was centered on the design, manufacturing, and sale of its tracking systems to solar project developers and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms, with REC Solar, Martifer Solar, and groSolar being notable clients.
The company's flagship product was the GC-Series single-axis tracker. This system was engineered to increase the lifetime energy yield of a photovoltaic system by tilting the solar panels to follow the sun's daily path. A key design feature was its distributed architecture, which contrasted with the ganged architecture of competing systems and resulted in fewer moving components per megawatt. The company asserted that its trackers were validated for a service life exceeding 20 years without the need for scheduled maintenance and had demonstrated .9998 measured availability in the field. The product suite also included the PV-Platform Software Toolset for system design and operation.
RayTracker secured venture funding from backers including Idealab, The Quercus Trust, and Phoenix Fire. In a significant liquidity event for its investors, the company was acquired by First Solar in January 2011 for approximately $45 million. Following the acquisition, the entire RayTracker team, with its expertise in reliability engineering, advanced PV system modeling, and software engineering, was integrated into First Solar's EPC group, and its customer base was transitioned to the acquiring entity.
Keywords: solar tracking, single-axis tracker, photovoltaic systems, balance-of-systems, utility-scale solar, First Solar acquisition, Idealab, Kang Sun, renewable energy hardware, EPC services, energy yield optimization, solar farm components, PV system design, distributed tracker architecture, solar technology, GC-Series tracker, PV-Platform Software, Mark Henderson, solar project development, energy infrastructure