Throughout 2026, we’ve made significant progress in our technical risk management and tracker reliability programme as we prepare Latitude40 for commercial production. Field testing, component analysis and engineering collaboration are supporting the continued development of Corrie’s solar tracking technology.
Building on several years of laboratory testing and field deployments, we’re continuing to refine component performance, durability and long-term reliability. This work is supported by three engineering students, bringing fresh technical perspectives to our established development programme.
ENGINEERING COLLABORATION AND FIELD VALIDATION
Since our initial deployments in 2019, we’ve been testing and evaluating the linear actuators that control Latitude40’s movement. Accelerated laboratory testing provided the foundations of our reliability programme. Long-term field operation gives us valuable evidence of how components perform in real-world conditions.
Anabelle Griswold and Anthony Mascoli are both mechanical engineering students from UConn. They’ve been analysing actuator performance using operational data and hands-on investigations across our UK test sites.
Their work has included examining component wear, weather exposure and the root causes of failures in earlier equipment. The findings are helping us refine weather protection, component specifications and supplier requirements. The findings are supporting our ongoing focus on long-term durability and maintainability.
We’re also pleased to welcome Kwesi Roberts, who is reviewing Latitude40’s pivot mechanism in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, adding another strand to our mechanical engineering development.
TURNING OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE INTO PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS
With operational experience across nine UK sites, our growing evidence base is helping us make informed engineering decisions as we move towards commercial production.
This combination of field data, technical analysis and design refinement is an important part of developing a solar tracker that is not only effective at generating electricity, but also reliable, straightforward to maintain and practical to manufacture at scale.