As solar development expands to more challenging terrain, traditional construction methods relying on mass grading have driven up project costs, delayed construction, and created unnecessary environmental risks. Nevados Engineering, Inc. has addressed these issues with its TRACE™ All Terrain Tracker®, an innovative solar tracking solution that eliminates the need for costly and destructive site grading and is faster to install. By adapting to natural topography rather than requiring land to be flattened, TRACE™ expands the number of viable solar sites, accelerates project timelines, and reduces installation and material costs — ultimately reshaping the economics of solar development.
One of the most significant advantages of the TRACE™ system is its ability to speed up solar construction. Traditional solar trackers require significant site preparation, including costly grading, which increases upfront expenses and introduces permitting complications. TRACE™ eliminates these issues by offering an articulating design that conforms to existing terrain, reducing site preparation requirements and enabling faster deployment. The system’s streamlined construction process further enhances installation speed. By incorporating pre-assembled components, auto-aligning torque tubes, and self-aligning bearings, the number of steps required is significantly reduced. An independent study by Eclipse-M found that the TRACE™ system requires only 118 labor hours per megawatt installed, improving installation efficiency by 25 to 50 percent compared to three other leading trackers.
Nevados has also partnered with Milwaukee Tool to integrate the M18 FUEL™ Controlled Torque Impact Wrench into the installation process. This self-adjusting “smart tool” eliminates the need for a two-step torquing process, allowing bolts to be installed accurately with a single action. It also features built-in data logging for customizable reporting and quality assurance. Field testing demonstrated that using this tool saved approximately 27.1 person-hours per megawatt and enabled installations up to 3.5 times faster than conventional methods, with zero torque failures reported across extensive deployments.
Mass grading has long been a necessary but problematic practice for greenfield solar development. Grading disrupts natural landscapes, increases stormwater runoff, and creates dust pollution, often triggering costly Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan compliance requirements and adding permitting delays. By eliminating the need for grading, TRACE™ helps developers avoid regulatory hurdles that have become more stringent in recent years. Many states and local jurisdictions are tightening regulations around solar grading due to its environmental impacts. In Virginia, for example, recent Department of Environmental Quality rules have imposed stricter stormwater permitting requirements after past grading-related violations led to fines of up to $245,000 for sediment runoff into local waterways. Projects that use TRACE™ bypass these challenges entirely by keeping soil in place, maintaining the land’s natural permeability, and reducing overall site disturbance.
Beyond regulatory compliance, avoiding grading has direct cost benefits and fosters community acceptance. Customers save up to $700,000 per 100 megawatts in avoided earthwork., That also prevents the loss of topsoil, mitigates dust pollution, and preserves existing vegetation, reducing the carbon footprint of solar development. Studies have shown that mass grading increases project risks, drives anti-solar sentiment in local communities, and invites further regulatory action. By adopting Nevados’ technology, developers can sidestep these challenges while delivering more sustainable projects.
The economic advantages of TRACE™ extend beyond installation efficiencies. The articulating joints in its steel tubing allow these solar trackers to adapt to the land, maintaining consistent heights of the steel pilings underneath — rather than having to specify differing heights of steel pilings to mount long straight tubes over rolling terrain, as some of its competitors do. The savings add up: On one 130-megawatt project, the system saved 43 miles of steel, further improving project economics while simplifying on-site adjustments for minor variations. The system also enhances long-term financial viability by incorporating “terrain-aware backtracking,” which maximizes energy output by eliminating solar energy losses from one row shading another. This optimization helps recover up to 50 percent of lost energy yield compared to conventional trackers on undulating terrain.
TRACE™ represents a paradigm shift in solar project design. By eliminating grading, accelerating installation, and optimizing energy performance, it has set a new industry standard for how utility-scale solar is built on challenging sites. With over 1.4 gigawatts of systems deployed worldwide, TRACE™ is proving that solar can be both economically efficient and environmentally responsible.
