Introducing Maverick
5B has reinvented large-scale solar farms.
Starting with a clean slate, we’ve developed the fastest and easiest way to deploy PV modules into the field. Our solution is Maverick: A pre-fabricated, low-cost solar array that shifts construction, labour and risk from the project site into the factory.
Maverick at a glance
- A MAV is a ground-mounted DC solar array block of 32 or 40 PV modules.
- MAVs can be made with any standard framed 60 or 72-cell PV module.
- Modules are oriented in a concertina shape at a 10 degree tilt and electrically configured, ready to be integrated at site.
- Each MAV weighs about three tonnes. When deployed the MAV is five metres wide and 16 metres long (32 modules) or 20 metres long (40 modules).
- Download Maverick Brochure
Assembling Maverick
MAV units are assembled in 5B’s factory in Alexandria. The assembly bay is a repurposed 20 ft shipping container. 5B’s two-person teams can assemble one MAV every five hours. Each assembly bay can produce over one megawatt of MAV units per month.
Our nimble assembly operation is designed to rapidly scale up or down quickly, as you need it.
When we moved into our Sydney warehouse, it took just two weeks to convert it into a Maverick production facility. It takes just two days to train a new ‘MAV technician’ in assembly.
Shipping Maverick
Maverick ships in standard shipping containers. Four 32-module MAVs fit in a 20-ft container. Instead of managing complex shipping arrangements with multiple suppliers, Maverick drastically simplifies on-site logistics: your 5B shipment will contain one-hundred per cent of your solar farm components, up to the AC terminals of the inverter.
5B has even made the factory mobile. For your next project we can ship you MAVs or a Maverick factory, using our containerised assembly pods.
Deploying Maverick on site
Maverick is deployed on site with a five tonne telehandler or forklift in less than ten minutes per unit. One 5B deployment crew (three people) can deploy 100 kW per day or one megawatt in 10 days.
Before we deploy a MAV, we survey the site with a drone and mark out the locations for the concrete beams using recycled rubber pads. We keep the MAV in place during deployment using two ground anchors. No earthworks are required before deployment, as long as the site is relatively flat.
Because Maverick has minimal ground penetrations, we can put it in places that are off limits for most solar farms. We are planning Maverick deployments on landfill sites and tailings dams for mines.
Redeploying Maverick and decommissioning
Maverick can easily be removed from site with a reverse deployment process. Once our ground anchors are removed and Maverick has been re-loaded into shipping containers, the only rehabilitation required is the restoration of ground cover.
Redeploying Maverick at another site is as simple as the initial deployment.
Energy yield
A Maverick solar farm is cheaper than conventional fixed tilt arrays and single axis tracking, with a slightly different output profile.
With it’s opposite-facing strings and continuous array, the generation curve has a similar shape to single axis tracking, with a slightly lower yield in MWh/MW, depending on the location. The closer the MAV solar farm is to the equator, the closer the output approaches single-axis tracking.
The MAV can orient east-west, or north-south, without impacting the energy yield more than one per cent.
Inverters and cabling
Because MAV is completely modular, you get full flexibility in the design of the DC array, cabling runs and inverter locations. We have developed a plug-and-play DC cabling solution and prefabricated inverter stands to reduce cabling costs and on-site electrical work.
Because MAV is a continuous array, it uses a one-hundred per cent above ground DC cabling solution. The concrete ballasts in MAV support the DC cables from the individual blocks back to the inverters.
We use string inverters for Maverick solar farms up to five megawatts. 5B has developed prefabricated concrete-ballasted inverter stands that ship to site with the inverters pre-mounted and the inverters fully pre-commissioned.
A Maverick solution for every solar application
Developers and EPCs
5B supply our modular array to PV projects from tens of kW up to multiple MW at industry-leading prices. We’re flexible in our scope: we can provide a range of services from DC array supply and shipment, to full deployment and commissioning of the DC array, cabling and inverters.
We provide comprehensive training and support for Maverick deployment by EPC crews. We’ve developed a standard design one-megawatt Maverick block with fully cost-optimised DC cabling and inverter design.
Energy users
5B provides a range of solar solutions to meet your energy needs, from small agricultural applications up to large industrial and mining loads. Maverick offers the highest energy yield per hectare of available land for behind-the-meter power generation.
Because Maverick is redeployable, we can offer short-term energy contracts to customers who want to maintain control of their site in the future. There are a range of flexible options available, including solar leases or PPAs, or systems with comprehensive operation and maintenance agreements. For specialised mini grid integration and energy storage applications 5B partners with specialist providers to bring you a fully-wrapped solution.
IPPs and asset owners
Maverick is the only cost-effective, re-deployable solar array that unlocks the possibility of a solar fleet. IPPs will be able to offer customers more flexible solar: shorter terms, flexibility to scale capacity up or down as needed, more solar MWh per hectare of land. IPPs can invest in a standardised inventory of MAVs that can be flexibly deployed at any scale, with flexible integration into any mini-grid application. Individual MAVs can be moved between sites in shipping containers.