Shoals Technologies and Nextracker Innovate to Launch North-South Big Lead Assembly (BLA) Product for Solar EBOS

New North-South BLA trunk bus optimizes EBOS installation, long-term O&M and delivers overall project savings compared to conventional wiring methods

PORTLAND, Tenn., Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. (“Shoals” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: SHLS), a leading provider of electrical balance of systems (EBOS) solutions for solar, storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, and Nextracker LLC, the global market leader in utility-scale solar trackers, today unveiled a new North-South Big Lead Assembly (BLA) trunk bus product. Shoals’ latest innovation will be on display at the RE+ trade show in Anaheim, California, September 20-22 (Booth #1304).

Since 2017, Shoals’ award-winning BLA has revolutionized EBOS for utility-scale solar, enabling a faster, safer, more reliable and more cost-effective installation. Nextracker’s award-winning NX Horizon^TM tracker features independent rows, allowing personnel and equipment to traverse the full length of multiple tracker rows freely. This unencumbered site access reduces the time and labor required for vegetation management, panel cleaning, and general site maintenance activities throughout the life of the project by up to 50%.

To address challenges associated with site access, Shoals and Nextracker collaborated to innovate a new North-South BLA trunk product, which is specially optimized for NX Horizon^TM tracker rows. In this North-South BLA product, the trunk bus runs parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the torque tube and transition boxes along the North-South row step down the size of the trunk bus along the tracker rows. Without any structures to impede site access, ongoing power plant O&M is simpler and faster.

Compared to conventional in-field North-South wiring methods, Shoals North-South BLA delivers a 43% savings in PV wiring installation labor, a 60% savings in DC wiring O&M, and a 0.25% increase in energy yield due to less DC wiring voltage drop.

“We are proud to partner with Nextracker to make our leading solar ecosystems work optimally together, resulting in utility-scale solar that is more cost effective for our customers,” said Jason Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer of Shoals. “We will continue to innovate collaboratively with Nextracker to enhance our North-South BLA product to further optimize its architecture and installation methodologies, enabling even more cost savings.”

“This collaboration with Shoals provides a critical solution to an industry-wide challenge,” said Dan Shugar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nextracker. “We are excited this North-South BLA product is now available, helping more projects realize the long-term benefit of our independent row trackers.”

About Shoals Technologies Group, Inc.

Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. is a leading provider of electrical balance of systems (EBOS) solutions for solar, storage, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Since its founding in 1996, the Company has introduced innovative technologies and systems solutions that allow its customers to substantially increase installation efficiency and safety while improving system performance and reliability. Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. is a recognized leader in the renewable energy industry whose solutions are deployed on over 20 GW of solar systems globally. For additional information, please visit: https://www.shoals.com/.

About Nextracker

Nextracker is the leading provider of intelligent, integrated solar tracker and software solutions used in utility-scale and ground-mounted distributed generation solar projects around the world. Our products enable solar panels in utility-scale power plants to follow the sun’s movement across the sky and optimize plant performance. With over 60 GW shipped worldwide, Nextracker leads the solar industry with solar tracker technologies that optimize and increase energy production while reducing costs for significant plant ROI. For more information, please visit www.Nextracker.com.

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Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but rather are based on the Company’s current expectations and projections regarding its business, operations and other factors relating thereto. Words such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “anticipate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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