SunCarrier business division

The SunCarrier business division focuses on the development, planning, implementation, marketing, operation and service of solar facilities with tracking systems. The SunCarrier, developed in 2004, was designed especially for use in solar power plants and is aimed at investors and industrial customers with an interest in the profit-oriented generation of solar power on an industrial scale. The business division specialises in the complete management of such turnkey projects and offers these ready-to-operate facilities for purchase to institutional and private investors. In addition to individual installations, our international presence enables us also to offer our customers large projects suitable for investment in all attractive target markets. Our team consists of primarily engineers, designers, sales consultants and project managers experienced in the field of industrial plant technology.

On the supply side a+f GmbH has developed strategic partnerships with the most important systems suppliers. Continuous quality assurance measures throughout production and close cooperation in the refinement of the product portfolio ensure an extraordinarily high level of quality. a+f GmbH relies on local, individually certified partners with regard to project implementation. The strictest quality control guidelines have been developed for all work processes. When it comes to project management, we place our trust in our experienced employees. All milestones are planned and documented by us in an inspection process that has been executed a thousand times over.

The SunCarrier is a single-axis tracking system which continuously aligns the module surface to the current position of the sun via a vertical axis. The SkyCarrier is a newly developed product which causes the module to track the sun through its horizontal axis.

The first SunCarrier 220, with a module surface of approx. 212 square meters (2,283.35 square feet), was developed in 2004, whereupon it was installed in Wuerzburg and tested over two years.

The subsequent model, the SunCarrier 260, featured a module surface which was 15 % larger and had an even more robust steel construction. As a result of market trends towards increasingly large generators, the SunCarrier 250 was developed at the beginning of 2006 for the local market, with a surface area of around 250 square meters (2,664.74 square feet). In June of 2008, we introduced the SunCarrier 300 at the Intersolar trade fair Munich. This model, just like the model 260, was designed for the southern European market, and had a module surface area of 287.5 square meters (3,094.61 square feet).

The SunCarrier 160 completes the product portfolio as our smallest model, both in terms of height and the available module surface area of approx. 163 square meters (1,754.52 square feet). The modules are aligned at 40° to the horizontal. This ensures an optimal angle for capturing sunlight and an increase in output of up to 35 % compared to fixed systems. The overall height is reduced to four meters (13.12 feet) by way of adapting construction. This reduces wind resistance and enables to build in countries with a four meter (13.12 feet) hight
limitation.

For operation in equatorial countries

At the beginning of 2009, the SkyCarrier 250 was presented for the first time. It is our tracking system for solar power plants located in open spaces close to the equator, that is at a latitude of somewhere between 0 and 25 degrees north or south. At a solar angle of up to 90°, it is possible to ensure an optimal alignment of the photovoltaic modules towards the sun only via a horizontal axis.

The subsequent model, the SkyCarrier 1000, is modularly expandable and thus, in light of the available generating surface, not limited by its significantly reduced height of just two meters (6.56 feet).