1. Market Landscape: Fixed Mounts Hold Their Ground, Trackers Break 100 GW

1.1 Fixed Mounts: 82% Share – The Market Foundation

In the first half of 2024, PV racking tender volume reached nearly 23 GW, with an estimated procurement quantity of 610,000 tonnes. Fixed mounts, due to their stability and cost‑effectiveness, dominated the market, accounting for 19.03 GW or 82% of the total. Looking at awarded contracts, five central state‑owned enterprises – Three Gorges Group, China Huadian Corporation, China Energy Investment Corporation, PowerChina, and China National Nuclear Corporation – together tendered 16.7 GW, representing 81% of the total tender volume, with the majority being fixed mounts (16.8 GW out of 22 GW, or 76%).

1.2 Trackers: First Time Above 100 GW, Chinese Manufacturers Rise

In 2024, global PV tracker shipments increased by 20% year‑on‑year to 111 GW, surpassing the 100 GW milestone for the first time. In the global top 10 ranking, Chinese manufacturers performed particularly strongly: Arctech jumped from 5th place in 2023 to 2nd globally, with shipments of 17.41 GW (up 127.93% year‑on‑year) and a global market share increase from 9% to 16%; TrinaTracker remained 6th globally, with shipments of 7.3 GW; Antai New Energy entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking 9th with shipments of 2.55 GW (up 40% year‑on‑year). Three Chinese manufacturers occupied three of the top 10 global spots.

1.3 Regional Divergence: Middle East Surges, US Declines for First Time

Middle East saw shipments of 15.4 GW in 2024, a year‑on‑year increase of 205%. Arctech ranked first in shipments, TrinaTracker fourth. In India, Arctech shipped 7.6 GW, capturing a 48% market share, making it the top shipper in the Asia‑Pacific region.

United States remained the world‘s largest tracker market, with annual shipments of 33 GW, but shipments declined by 9% year‑on‑year – the first decline in eight years.

China installed only 3.604 GW of trackers, a 13% year‑on‑year decrease, accounting for just 3% of the global total – a huge growth potential compared to penetration rates exceeding 80% in the US, Middle East, Latin America, and other regions.

2. Technology Evolution: Fixed, Tracker, and Flexible Mounts Advance Together

2.1 Fixed Mounts: Large Spans and High Clearance Become Standard for Agrivoltaics

Fixed mounts remain the market foundation, accounting for 82% of tender volume in the first half of 2024. Technology evolution is focused on large spans and high ground clearance to suit agrivoltaic and dual‑use scenarios. In many agrivoltaic projects, column heights have increased to 3‑4 m and spans expanded to 8‑12 m to accommodate farming machinery and crop light requirements. The use of high‑strength steel reduces material consumption under the same load, and the spread of high‑strength Zn‑Al‑Mg coated steel is driving fixed mounts toward lighter weight and longer life.

2.2 Trackers: AI‑Powered Intelligent Algorithms Become Standard

In 2024, AI‑powered intelligent tracking algorithms became industry standard. TrinaTracker‘s SuperTrack intelligent algorithm has achieved cumulative global deliveries exceeding 3 GW, with its generation gains validated by third‑party institutions such as SGS and UL Solutions. Data from the National Photovoltaic and Energy Storage Empirical Platform (Daqing Base) showed that horizontal single‑axis trackers generated 15.9% more electricity than fixed‑tilt systems.

In terms of technical architecture, multi‑point drive design became the mainstream trend. At SNEC 2024, at least 20 companies simultaneously exhibited tracker products, with competition intensifying. At the same time, “tracker + smart installation and O&M” is advancing through applications such as piling robots and installation robots, pushing toward “factory‑like project execution and modular installation”.

2.3 Flexible Mounts: Spatial Cable‑Net Structure Becomes the Unified Paradigm

In 2024, flexible mounts completed a critical transition from “proof‑of‑concept” to “large‑scale replacement”. The core technical approach has converged – the pre‑stressed steel cable‑net structure became the industry standard: two pre‑stressed steel strands bear loads in the east‑west direction, and an inter‑row flexible stabilising wind‑resistant system in the north‑south direction forms a spatial cable‑net that effectively resists external loads.

Major Project Examples:

The Hainan Ding‘an project had previously withstood multiple extreme weather events, including Typhoons “Talim” and “Koinu” (both exceeding level 12), and continued to operate stably. DAS Solar’s flexible mounting products have passed TÜV SÜD wind tunnel testing and obtained the first wind tunnel certification, and have also successfully passed wind load and wind‑induced vibration response wind tunnel tests at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In terms of pile foundations, flexible mounts significantly reduce pile counts compared to traditional fixed mounts. For example, the Lanxi fishery‑solar hybrid project in Hunan, using cable‑supported flexible mounts, reduced pile count by 70% compared to traditional fixed mounts, effectively reducing ecological disturbance to fish ponds.

On the industrial scale, the flagship product of HYPSET – a three‑cable space‑truss flexible PV mounting system – had achieved cumulative orders exceeding 3 GW by the end of 2024, covering scenarios such as mountain agrivoltaics, fishery‑solar hybrids, coastal tidal flats, and desert/gobi/wasteland areas.

3. Foundation and Material Innovations: Screw Piles and Zn‑Al‑Mg Coatings

3.1 Screw Pile Foundations: Concrete‑Free, Fast Installation, Removable

In 2024, screw piles saw rapidly expanded application in both fixed and flexible mount foundations. Compared to traditional concrete foundations, screw piles offer three key advantages: fast and convenient installation (screwed directly into the ground – no concrete curing), high load capacity (adjustable by varying pile diameter, length, and helix blade spacing), and environmentally friendly and removable (reduces consumption of cement and aggregates, and piles can be removed). Screw piles have become the preferred choice for agrivoltaics, temporary projects, and ecologically sensitive areas.

In terms of patented technologies, several structural innovations emerged in 2024. A “grouted screw pile and PV mount” patent significantly improves horizontal load capacity by pouring concrete into the core section of the pile. Pipe pile cavity grouting technology uses cement slurry to fill gaps around the pile, reinforcing the surrounding soil and increasing overall load capacity. Some designs use hollow internal structures for removable connection to PV mounts; one innovative technology even incorporates microbial culture components within the hollow structure, using biologically induced precipitation to fix the pile and mount – a forward‑looking, eco‑friendly reinforcement approach.

Large‑scale projects extensively validated screw pile applications. A 1,000 MW PV power project in Ordos explicitly required steel screw piles for foundation construction. Screw piles were widely used in a 200 MW PV project in the Gulang County desert area and a 340 MW PV project at the Kubuqi Desert PV base (using helical drilling techniques). A 15 MW Phase II PV project in Guyana successfully completed the installation of 7,815 steel screw piles.

3.2 Zn‑Al‑Mg Coatings: Material Upgrades Drive a Corrosion Revolution

In 2024, Zn‑Al‑Mg coated steel moved from “optional” to “standard” in ground‑mount PV racking. Zn‑Al‑Mg coatings offer self‑healing properties at cut edges – forming a dense protective film at scratches that stops corrosion spread – providing 5‑10 times the corrosion resistance of traditional hot‑dip galvanising and extending service life to over 35 years.

Shanxi Jianlong successfully developed 550 MPa high‑strength Zn‑Al‑Mg strip steel S550GD+ZM, allowing PV mount purlin thickness to be reduced to 1.8 mm and column thickness to 2.0‑2.5 mm, with an overall weight reduction of 12%, significantly lowering material cost and installation difficulty. Coating weight not less than 275 g/m² provides reliable protection for PV mounts for over 25 years.

Pangang achieved full coverage of steel grades and applications for medium‑aluminium Zn‑Al‑Mg products for PV, covering the full strength range from 250 MPa to 550 MPa. Its products showed no red rust after 4,000 hours of neutral salt spray testing and are warranted for 30 years of service. Pangang is one of the few domestic enterprises capable of producing low‑, medium‑, and high‑aluminium Zn‑Al‑Mg products.

In December 2024, the industry standard T/CSTA 0077‑2024 “Continuously hot‑dip zinc‑aluminium‑magnesium alloy coated steel strip for PV mounts” was officially released, providing a unified technical specification for the production, sale, and use of galvanised and Zn‑Al‑Mg coated steel strip for PV mounts.

4. Summary and Outlook

In 2024, the ground‑mounted solar structure (racking) industry exhibited three key characteristics:

Refined upgrade of fixed mounts – continuing their cost advantage in flat‑terrain plants, with large‑span and high‑clearance designs accelerating adoption to suit agrivoltaic and dual‑use scenarios.

Global expansion of trackers – Chinese manufacturers collectively rose in global rankings; AI‑powered intelligent algorithms became standard; emerging markets such as the Middle East and India contributed the majority of growth; China‘s domestic penetration of only 3% – a “low‑hanging fruit” – is expected to surge under policy drivers.

Large‑scale replacement by flexible mounts – the spatial cable‑net structure became the industry standard, achieving significant replacement of traditional fixed mounts in complex scenarios such as fishery‑solar hybrids, mountain agrivoltaics, and wastewater treatment plant roofs.