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DOE OSTI · 2481679

Simulate Wind Loading on RUTE SunTracker: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)

Young, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]·Krause, Doug [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]
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Abstract

RUTE produces and delivers efficient, sustainable structural foundation systems for the wind and solar industries, instrumental in the effort to lower the cost of clean electricity and reduce CO2. RUTE's SunTracker is a high-clearance agrivoltaic solar array. The system uses raised cables, providing support with less materials and cost. These cables can provide tracking for increased energy generation and greater revenue, allowing the land beneath to be used for other means simultaneously. RUTE provided data files that NREL will use to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to characterize and predict wind loading on the 6x6 RUTE SunTracker photovoltaic (PV) array. Varying both the panel orientations and wind speeds provides information on how the array can manage a variety of weather conditions. These results, in turn, inform RUTE's design and construction of these arrays.

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14 SOLAR ENERGY17 WIND ENERGYAgrivoltaicsCRADAPVWind Loading

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Young, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)], Krause, Doug [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]. 2024-12-11. Simulate Wind Loading on RUTE SunTracker: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report). https://doi.org/10.2172/2481679

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