Australian solar innovator says its biggest order yet is headed for hurricane territory

Australian solar innovator 5B has revealed the source of its first US order and largest single contract yet – a 69 MW project for AES Puerto Rico, a subsidiary of New York-listed energy giant AES.

The solar and storage project, described as a “milestone” in the Caribbean island’s transition to renewables, includes a 100 MW/ 400 MWh battery.

5B says it was chosen for the job not only due to the faster and lower-cost deployment offered by its prefabricated Maverick solar technology, but also due to its high wind resilience in a hurricane prone region.

The 1,392 5B Maverick arrays that will make up the Puerto Rico array are being engineered to withstand winds speed of up to 267km/h, the company says, while also using a much smaller amount of land than conventional solar arrays.

“This deal clearly demonstrates the ability of the 5B team and our 5B Maverick prefabricated solar array technology to meet the scale, performance, and cost requirements of our utility scale customers,” said 5B chief David Griffin on Friday.

AES Puerto Rico market business leader, Jesus Bolinaga, says the project is about building a more resilient and green electricity grid for Puerto Rico, particularly in light of the huge damage done by hurricanes Irma and Maria in September of 2017.

“The high wind resilience of 5B’s Maverick solar technology and its ability to generate more power per acre offers a solution that can enhance reliability and maximise land use,” Bolinaga said.

5B doesn’t make solar panels, but assembles them in an accordion-like structure – called the 5B Maverick – in its factory in Adelaide. The Maverick arrays are pre-wired, fully plug-and-play, trucked/shipped to site and unfolded using a forklift. Once deployed, each 5B Maverick is roughly 40m long and 9m wide.

In Australia, the technology has been hugely popular in the resources sector, as a cheaper and faster way to roll out stand-alone renewable energy systems to power remote, off-grid mining operations. (5B’s current record deployment speed is 1.25MW in one day with eight people at the Liontown lithium mine in Western Australia.)

But the company is keen to supply much bigger projects, too, and is setting its sights on markets outside of Australia as it ramps up manufacturing.

News of the Puerto Rico order – 5B’s first US contract and largest single order, ever – emerged in February, when the company also revealed that the Marverick arrays for the job would be delivered to the US from a new factory it is building in India to help meet growing international demand.

News of the new offshore manufacturing facility was announced in the dying days of 2023, as part of a deal with Waaree Renewable Technologies – a leading solar EPC company in India.

In the announcement to the India stock exchange, Waaree said it had signed an agreement with 5B to build its Maverick solutions in India, with an eye to pushing down its production cost to “an economically competitive price point” and to explore opportunities for expanding production capacity.

Production experts from 5B’s Manufacturing Centre of Excellence in Adelaide are spearheading the set up of the co-located Waaree-5B manufacturing hub in Chikhli, near Surat. It is due to be operational in the second half of this year and has the potential to ramp up to gigawatt scale.

5B said on Friday that shipment of the Mavericks for the Puerto Rico job is scheduled to start in late 2024.