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ReGreen Completes Major Solar Thermal System For Los Angeles Housing Complex

Los Angeles-based ReGreen Corp. has completed a massive solar thermal installation for real estate developer GH Palmer on its new Lorenzo upscale housing complex near the University of Southern California.

The project involved 428 Heliodyne Gobi 4-ft. x 10-ft. solar collection panels and Heliodyne HCOM heat transfer appliances plus monitoring services supporting 10 domestic hot water (DHW) systems and four swimming pools.

Calling it the largest solar thermal hot water system installed on a given property in California, Sean Neman, co-founder and president of ReGreen, says the design had to take into consideration the location of a significant number of elements on the roof of the eight-story commercial building, including vents, elevator shaft towers, fire escape walkways, multiple air conditioning condensers, rooftop boilers, rooftop bathrooms, rooftop patios and pools.

“We had to consider the shade factor of surrounding buildings and rooftop elements during different times of the year, as well as the orientation of the collectors and the aesthetics from the ground and rooftop public areas,” Neman says. “We designed the DHW systems to be charged with non-toxic glycol to be environmentally friendly, while preventing any possible freeze damage to the system from occasional low temperatures.”

Kevin Refoua, vice president of operations at ReGreen, estimates that the customer will offset 61% of the building’s thermal demand and experience a 70% reduction in the gas bill.

Nevertheless, the thermal solar project did not sell itself. Neman says the customer had not had any previous experience with solar power in general and solar thermal in particular.

“It took me six months to set up a meeting,” says Deborah Stewart, vice president of sales at ReGreen. “And once I did, there was an education process, as with anything outside of someone’s comfort zone.”

Stewart says the financials make a compelling case if the prospective customer can be encouraged to take a bird’s-eye view of the economics. Stewart estimates that project payback for the Lorenzo installation is less than three years, including a $500,000 incentive from Southern California Gas and the 30% federal investment tax credit.

Once ReGreen had the contract, it was part of a team of about 200 contractors on the site.

“We affected and were affected by electricians, plumbers, roofers, structural engineering, structural concrete contractors, sheet metal workers, low voltage wiring and multiple other contractors,” Neman says. “Coordinating with the large number of other contractors could have been very challenging - and it frequently was - however, the building owners and site superintendents were very organized. They held weekly meetings and were supportive and excited to be having solar installed.”

Solar power - and perhaps solar thermal systems in particular - is still a relatively new industry to many public agencies, even in a solar-friendly state like California. As a result, Neman says, the rules and regulations are constantly changing. For the Lorenzo project, ReGreen needed permits for plumbing, electrical, building, pressure vessel and mechanical work, all with structural engineering certification.

“As you can imagine, the permitting process on a project this large has room for improvement,” he says. - Michael Puttré

 

Projects Spotlight PV
In Island Environments

In March, construction began on the 25 MW Dandan solar power plant on the Pacific island of Guam. The Dandan project is providing an opportunity to examine some of the benefits and challenges of developing solar power for island utility grids.

NRG Solar acquired the Dandan solar project from developer Quantum Utility Generation LLC in July 2013. Boeing is providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services. Electricity generated by the Dandan facility will be sold to the Guam Power Authority (GPA) under two 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs). The two PPAs reflect the merger of two previously separate projects into a combined project.

Guam currently relies heavily on fossil fuels for its 552.2 MW of gross generation capacity - principally fuel oil and diesel. Due to a global rise in oil prices, the cost of fuel oil has increased over 400% during the last decade. According to the GPA estimates, the project is expected to generate enough electricity to save over $300 million on fuel costs, with approximately $100 million in net savings.

At the same time, Guam is a tropical island in the southwest Pacific, rather isolated and subject to all the harsh winds and corrosive effects of a maritime environment.

“The Guam environment presents unique challenges from a constructability and operations standpoint,” says NRG spokesperson Jeff Holland. “The site is exposed to heavy periods of rain, high humidity and temperatures, a corrosive salt environment, periods of high wind loads, and insects and snakes that inhabit the island. All of these potential issues were taken into account in the design of the project so to optimize the solar plant’s operational capabilities.”

The Dandan site is previously disturbed farmland, which reduces its environmental impact and avoids many objections from a land-use standpoint. The solar array will be interspersed with wetlands, and engineers laid out the roads and drainage for the site to avoid affecting these. Holland says land contours were mostly maintained to allow natural storm water runoff to occur.

The island’s grid currently consists of 663 miles of transmission and distribution lines and 29 substations. The Dandan project will interconnect with GPA’s transmission system through a new substation near the site and a new transmission line to the existing Talofofo substation located approximately six miles away. Both the new substation and transmission line are included in the project plan. The transmission line will be a buried 34.5 kV gen-tie line that NRG says will provide a greater degree of reliability because the transmission will not be exposed to high winds above ground level.

Design and engineering considerations for island solar projects extend from site planning all the way down to the component level. Array Technologies Inc. (ATI) has developed a tropical version of its DuraTrack HZ horizontal trackers it is supplying for the 700 kW Nanea solar project on the island of Hawaii.

John Williamson, ATI’s engineering manager, says the properties of the lava rock soils on the site required the Hawaii-based EPC Sunetric to employ a self-ballasted foundation system for the trackers. ATI provided Sunetric with specifications for the foundations and worked with the company’s engineer on the design.

“Wind forces are determined based on the location, site requirements, modules, maximum tracker angle, and size and configuration of the array using data from our wind tunnel studies,” Williamson says. “Testing was performed to simulate many design situations based on our prior experience, in order to include sites such as this.”

In developing the specialized components, ATI has performed multiple wind tunnel tests simulating wind loads on the tracker array. For corrosion factors, Williamson says the company used U.S. military procedures for approximating salinity based on proximity to saltwater bodies, and volcanic emission dispersion was studied using Hawaii weather data monitoring.

The tropical trackers use stainless-steel rather than coated-steel fasteners. All galvanized structural parts were specified to prevent red rust for the lifetime of the tracker. Painted mechanical components used special processes and coatings to preserve their cosmetic appearance. Some openings in the tracker structure were sealed to prevent excessive water intrusion.

Terrain conditions on coral islands are much different from those on volcanic ones. Florida-based TerraSmart has completed a ground mount for a 550 kW solar power system on the island of Cat Cay in the Bahamas. Paul Benvie, vice president of engineering for TerraSmart, says the mount had to be embedded in solid oolitic limestone, which is typical for coral islands. Instead of driven piles, the mounting system required 448 ground screws.

“The corrosion rate at Cat Cay is similar to that of other tropical maritime locations, which are more aggressive than other areas across the globe,” Benvie says. “Being situated a few yards off the beach means that salt in the air is being deposited on the surface.”

Temperature also plays a role in the corrosion rate - as the temperature rises, the corrosion rate increases. Because the steel’s temperature will not increase as quickly as the ambient air temperature, it will stay wet longer, especially because it is shaded by the modules that are mounted to it.

“To combat the effects of maritime corrosion, the entire racking system at Cat Cay is made of hot-dipped galvanized steel, which is coated in a layer of molten zinc,” Benvie says.

As part of the operations and maintenance process in corrosive environments, the system owner is well advised to inspect the racking for signs of corrosion on a regular basis and rinse off the racking and panels periodically to remove corrosive contaminants and slow down the corrosion rate. Here, island environments in tropical climes may catch a bit of a break.

“Tropical marine environments typically see a higher-than-average annual rainfall rate, which actually reduces the corrosion rate by rinsing the salt deposits from the surface of the steel,” Benvie says.

- Michael Puttré

 

PG&E Signs PPA
For 50 MW PV Plant

Gestamp Solar, the photovoltaic energy division of Gestamp Renewables, and solar project developer 8minutenergy Renewables LLC have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell 50 MW of energy from the Midway Solar Farm project in Imperial County, Calif., to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E).

8minutenergy says that the two companies have a joint agreement to develop and build the solar project. The Midway Solar Farm, 8minutenergy adds, is a utility-scale facility sited on 486 acres of low-productivity farmland. Construction is projected to begin in 2015, with the site expected to be operational and delivering renewable energy to third parties in 2016 and PG&E in 2020.

The PPA is pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.

 

SunEdison Completes Plant For Air Force Base

SunEdison has completed a 16.4 MW photovoltaic solar power plant on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB) near Tuscon, Ariz.

The Davis-Monthan AFB solar power plant incorporates SunEdison’s Silvantis polysilicon PV modules. The plant, which is located on two plots of unused land totaling 170 acres, is expected to provide 35% of the base’s electricity requirements.

MIC Solar Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Macquarie Infrastructure Co. (MIC), is the owner of the project. SunEdison will provide operations and maintenance services under contract.

SunEdison says the plant is the largest solar energy facility at any U.S. Department of Defense installation and is expected to reduce the Air Force’s utility costs by $500,000 annually for the next 25 years.

 

REC Solar To Construct
12 MW Array In Hawaii

The board of directors of Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) and members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission have approved the terms of a 25-year lease of 60 acres for the construction of a 12 MW solar array in Anahola, Hawaii.

Construction is expected to begin this spring on the $54 million solar array, substation and battery energy storage system, which KIUC says will be the third large-scale solar project on the island of Kaua’i and one of the largest in Hawaii.

The array will consist of 59,000 panels and other equipment to be installed by REC Solar.

According to the company, the project - which is expected to be in operation by early 2015 - will generate electricity at a cost of about $0.125/ kWh. Five percent of Kaua’i’s annual energy needs - or enough electricity for 4,000 homes - will be produced by the system. During the daylight hours, about 20% of the island’s electricity will come from the project.

In addition to lease payments to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), the contract between the agency and KIUC calls for ownership of the solar array to transfer to DHHL after 25 years.

The project also includes a lithium-ion battery system capable of storing 6 MW of power that can be used when cloud cover reduces the output of the solar array, KIUC notes.

 

NPTRE Adding Array
To Landfill Energy Project

Rhode Island-based developer NPTRE, working with a landfill gas developer in North Carolina, is building a 1.8 MW municipal solar project as part of the 8 MW Renewable Energy Park in Onslow County.

NPTRE says it has an approved interconnection agreement with Duke Energy and secured site approval from municipal and state solid waste departments. The company also has a 15-year power purchase agreement with Duke.

The solar array will feature approximately 6,000 solar panels. A 1.9 MW landfill gas-to-energy facility has recently been installed at the site.

 

Kingspan Installs Solar
Thermal For Syracuse U

Kingspan Environmental has commissioned a solar thermal system to heat water in apartment buildings at Syracuse University in New York. The 240-panel system is on 20 buildings on the university’s South Campus.

Each of the buildings is equipped with two separate electrically heated hot water systems serving 12 students each. The storage tanks, serviced directly by the solar panels, preheat incoming cold water, which is then fed into the existing water heaters. This configuration allows the solar thermal system to contribute up to 60% of the energy required for hot water production. The average demand for each of the hot water systems is estimated to be 168 gallons per day.

The project was supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

 

OnForce Solar Developing
Projects For N.Y.

OnForce Solar has received funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop and construct large-scale commercial solar projects in New York under the state’s NY-Sun Initiative.

Three of the four solar projects awarded in this round of funding are located in the Bronx, and one project is located in Yonkers. Combined, these projects will generate a total of 2.291 MW.

The company says it has received over $20 million to date from NYSERDA under its competitive bidding program to develop solar projects.

 

Solectria Inverters
Bound For Guantanamo

Solectria Renewables LLC says its SGI 225 and SGI 500 inverters, string combiners, and SolrenView Web-based monitoring system have been selected for a 750 kW solar array at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Solectria says the stainless-steel enclosures for its commercial PV inverters and string combiners are well suited for marine environments such as Guantanamo Bay. World Electric Supply and Miller Electric Co. are providing electrical procurement and installation services on the project, which is expected to be completed in May.

 

Urban Grid Finishes
Array For Md. Town

Maryland-based solar developer and financier Urban Grid Holdings has completed a 519 kW ground-mount solar array for the Town of Denton, Md.

Urban Grid developed and arranged financing for the project through a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the town. Clark Eco Energy provided design, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for the project.

The 1,760 solar panel system is expected to produce nearly 740 MWh of electricity per year. All of the power generated from the solar installation will be used by Denton’s facilities to offset a portion of their utility electricity consumption.

Denton recently built a new enriched nutrient recovery plant that increased the town’s monthly energy usage by 40%. Porter says the solar project will allow the town to keep the tax rate and water and sewer rates down over the term of the PPA.

 

ESA Commissions
Community Solar In Fla.

ESA Renewables has completed a 400 kW community solar farm on the Gardenia campus of the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) in Orlando, Fla. Spear Point Energy acquired the array and is selling its output to the OUC under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

The solar farm covers approximately 2.5 acres in a canopy arrangement over the parking lot and is expected to produce about 540 MWh of electricity per year. ReneSola modules are mounted on Schletter racking systems. Chint Power Systems provided the three-phase inverters for the project.

ESA says subscriptions to the community solar farm sold out in less than a week after the OUC offered its customers the opportunity to purchase blocks of solar power from the array. Subscribers receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the solar farm’s production.

The Gardenia solar farm has 39 OUC subscribers who are initially paying a slight premium for their electricity but have their rates locked in for 25 years.

 

THiNKnrg Installs Large Rooftop Array

THiNKnrg has installed a 397.5 kW solar rooftop array at the Oshman Family JCC (OFJCC) campus in Palo Alto, Calif.

The OFJCC solar array includes 1,840 of Trina Solar’s Trinasmart solar panels distributed across the rooftops of the 12 buildings of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life. Conergy will own and operate the solar power system, providing electricity to the OFJCC under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The OFJCC solar installation is expected to generate nearly 617 MWh of electricity per year.

 

South Coast Completes
Medical Center Project

New Orleans-based South Coast Solar LLC has completed a grid-connected 217.6 kW photovoltaic system at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The system comprises 806 Suniva OPT270-60-4-1B0 monocrystalline modules installed on the rooftops of two buildings at the medical center campus. The panels were supported by the Renusol VS mounting system for pitched roofs and secured with S5! clamps. The system includes two Solectria PVI 100 kW inverters.

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based joint venture Gulf Building & Hernandez Consulting served as the prime contractor for the project, which is expected to generate nearly 282 MWh of electricity per year.

 

Greenwood Biosar Builds
Utility Project In Panama

A joint venture between Greenwood Energy and Biosar has completed design and construction of a 2.4 MW solar photovoltaic project in Panama’s Herrera province.

Greenwood Biosar says the solar array is Panama’s first utility-scale solar PV installation and can provide 30% of the region’s electricity demand. The project, built for developer Enel Green Power Panama, has been interconnected to the La Empresa de Generacion Electrica grid network.

Greenwood Biosar provided engineering, procurement and construction services, as well as plan equipment and control systems integration.

 

Martifer Building U.K.
Portfolio For Lightsource

Martifer Solar is building a 78.4 MW portfolio of photovoltaic plants in the U.K. The five utility-scale facilities are located in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Devon, Nottingham and Swindon.

Martifer Solar has sold one of these projects located at Spittleborough Farm and entered into an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with Lightsource Renewable Energy to construct four additional projects.

All five PV plants will be added to the Lightsource asset management portfolio in the U.K., and Martifer Solar will be retained under an operations and maintenance contract.

With project capacities between 9 MW and 24.67 MW, the five PV plants consist of 308,418 modules in total, installed in ground-mounted fixed structures. The full portfolio is expected to generate approximately 69.05 GWh of electricity per year. R