Vallourec won its first contract in May 2022 for the Belmonte photovoltaic project in northeastern Brazil from Nextracker. The solar farm is scheduled to go online in early 2023. Vallourec Tubes for Industry was approached by Nextracker to provide 1,050 tonnes of torque tubes and 1,200 tonnes of cold formed open profiles to the Belmonte solar farm in Ceará in northeastern Brazil. The torque tubes (127 mm in diameter) run the length of each row of panels, supporting the panels and enabling them to turn to continuously follow the sun from east to west. The open profiles stand vertically on the ground and support the torque tubes at intervals. In this way, the entire tracker structure is supported by the tubes and open profiles. Vallourec Tubes for Industry was formed by Vallourec and Incotep, a division of the Açotubo Group, as a oint venture in October 2021. Both groups can leverage their strengths in providing seamless profiled and cold drawn tubes, welded steel tubes and tubular solutions for several industry applications, including the solar segment both in Brazil and beyond. Solar tracker technology holds photovoltaic panels and turns them from east to west, much like the rotation of a sunflower. This enables the PV module to follow the path of the sun, maximizing the amount of energy they can produce throughout the day. With this technology, they can see yields of up to 30% over fixed tilt applications.
Vallourec won its first contract in May 2022 for the Belmonte photovoltaic project in northeastern Brazil from Nextracker. The solar farm is scheduled to go online in early 2023. Vallourec Tubes for Industry was approached by Nextracker to provide 1,050 tonnes of torque tubes and 1,200 tonnes of cold formed open profiles to the Belmonte solar farm in Ceará in northeastern Brazil. The torque tubes (127 mm in diameter) run the length of each row of panels, supporting the panels and enabling them to turn to continuously follow the sun from east to west. The open profiles stand vertically on the ground and support the torque tubes at intervals. In this way, the entire tracker structure is supported by the tubes and open profiles. Vallourec Tubes for Industry was formed by Vallourec and Incotep, a division of the Açotubo Group, as a oint venture in October 2021. Both groups can leverage their strengths in providing seamless profiled and cold drawn tubes, welded steel tubes and tubular solutions for several industry applications, including the solar segment both in Brazil and beyond. Solar tracker technology holds photovoltaic panels and turns them from east to west, much like the rotation of a sunflower. This enables the PV module to follow the path of the sun, maximizing the amount of energy they can produce throughout the day. With this technology, they can see yields of up to 30% over fixed tilt applications.
