The landscapes north of Munich are defined by rolling hills and a long tradition of agriculture. For farmers in the region, bringing solar power into their daily work offers real potential but also brings its own challenges. In their effort to add solar electricity as a second income source, the Breitsameter organic farm in Dasing, near Augsburg, has confronted this challenge head-on.
Hans and Brigitte Breitsameter, together with Winfried Blank – managing director of Solar in Motion and cousin to Hans – spent considerable time searching for a solution that would work on their steep, uneven fields, where they cultivate feed for a flock of 15,000 hens. Winfried Blank describes the project as deeply personal: “This is more than just producing electricity. Our goal is to protect our land and sustain our way of farming, while also proving that innovation and tradition can truly complement each other. Our partnership bridges generations and brings together agricultural expertise with technical ingenuity. We wanted a system that would honour our family’s farming legacy, and at the same time make solar generation economically viable on terrain that many would consider unsuitable.”
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Compact, modular system
With slopes between 15 and 20 percent, most tracker options don’t perform well, unable to cope well with the major shifts in the terrain. For the Breitsameter family, however, installing a tracker system was non-negotiable, and even the foundation for their move into agri-PV. Their aim was simple: steady yields and dependable energy, especially in the early morning and late afternoon. “We were searching for a system that was both flexible and suited to hillside locations, with a design that wouldn’t complicate our operations. In the end, we chose Solargik technology,” says Winfried Blank. “The short table format and sturdy mechanics offered exactly the combination we needed to bring together agriculture and solar energy on a single plot.”
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Protecting the soil was equally crucial. “The ground here is exceptionally fertile, and we wanted to keep it as healthy as possible for our crops,” explains David Denker, Solargik’s business development lead. “That’s why we went with a Solargik tracker – it enables us to avoid disruptive earthworks altogether.”
Eliminating joints
Solargik, an Israeli manufacturer, uses slim driven piles for its foundations, a solution made possible by working with smaller tables than standard tracker systems. “We’re able to build individual trackers with as few as eight modules, up to 24,” says Mo Horowitz, product manager and chief operating officer at Solargik. “Most other trackers only start at a minimum of 24 modules per table.”
Solargik’s design brings further advantages for agricultural sites and uneven terrain. The company no longer uses long torque tubes, which are usually needed to rotate the modules but can make installation harder on slopes. “On sloped ground, the real difficulty is getting the force right and driving an entire tracker row with a single motor,” Mo Horowitz reports. Instead of relying on a long torque tube with a joint to handle changes in elevation – a solution that is both difficult to install and expensive – Solargik has opted for compact module tables. Each table shares a post with its neighbour but operates entirely independently: every module table is powered by its own dedicated motor.
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Lowering costs
By eliminating the need for a large motor to drive an entire row of trackers via a central torque tube, the system achieves a new level of adaptability. “This setup allows us to manage slopes of up to 30 degrees with ease, without requiring any terrain alterations,” says David Denker. “The real constraint for us isn’t the tracker system itself, but the equipment used to drive the posts into the ground.”
According to Denker, altering the land is never cheap and can make the project harder to justify financially. “The biggest expense isn’t always labour or equipment; it’s often the cost of getting the needed permits for land adaptation,” he explains. “Our streamlined system enabled us to build the installation at a very competitive cost. The substructure doesn’t add significant expense compared to a fixed-tilt system,” Denker emphasises. “This means that the project can stand on its own financially, even if it doesn’t get extra support from the planned solar package. (su)
