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Nexamp And Boy Scouts Partner On 6 MW Solar Project In Massachusetts

Massachusetts-based solar project developer Nexamp Inc. has teamed up with Mohegan Council, Boy Scouts of America Inc. for a 6 MW solar facility at the Treasure Valley Scout Reservation in Rutland, Mass.

Over and above its notable size, the Treasure Valley solar plant represents an innovative partnership of public, private and nonprofit interests coming together for the mutual benefit of the participating organizations and the surrounding community.

Now supplying power to National Grid through a nearby substation, the project, owned by SunEdison, will produce net-metering credits for local municipalities, including the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, the Dudley Charlton Regional School District and the Southern Worcester County Regional Vocational School District.

The Mohegan Council Boy Scouts will use the income generated from the project to maintain and improve facilities, campsites and equipment for their educational programs. The Mohegan Council will also use the solar facility as a teaching tool.

“The Mohegan Council thought about the solar array as a long-term investment to provide financial stability, educational opportunities and because it fit with its philosophy of sustainability,” says Zaid Ashai, chairman and CEO of Nexamp, which received the contract to plan, finance and construct the Treasure Valley solar project.

On the engineering side, Ashai says the biggest challenge was that the site for the array was almost a rolling hill. A local through street facilitated access to the site. The array employs 19,063 Trina Solar TSM 300 PD14 and SunEdison modules on TerraSmart GSM fixed-tilt mounting and racking. The inverters are Solectria SGI500s.

“The grade made it really interesting, I’ll say that,” he says. “It was challenging to get through the construction timeline given the topography of the land. We built this in the winter, which wasn’t ideal because the weather was miserable with a lot of freezing and thawing cycles.”

Perhaps the location of the array site in a scout reservation underlined the importance of land management as the project proceeded. In particular, Ashai says much of the engineering effort went into deploying the mounts to prevent erosion.

“Philosophically, we adhere to the belief that when you start a ground-mount project, you better restore the land to its original state, if not a better state,” Ashai says. “Like the Boy Scouts, we are in the sustainability business. If we leave a mess, it doesn’t matter if we have put solar panels in the ground.” R

- Michael Puttré

 

Southern Calif. Edison Signs 1.3 GW Of Solar

Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed contracts with solar and geothermal energy producers for more than 1.5 GW of capacity. Agreements include the purchase of more than 1.3 GW of new solar power and the re-contracting of 225 MW from an existing California geothermal energy project.

SCE says the contracts resulted from an open and competitive process for all renewable resources designed to promote market development, contain costs, diversify power sources and help to meet the state’s 33% renewable portfolio standard goals.

The agreements are subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.

 

SunEdison Acquires 156 MW Comanche Solar

SunEdison Inc. has acquired the 156 MW Comanche Solar project in Colorado from renewable energy developer Community Energy.

SunEdison is partnering with Community Energy to complete the final development stage of the project by structuring the financing and providing procurement services. SunEdison will manage the construction, operation and maintenance of the solar power plant.

The 900-acre project will incorporate more than 400,000 SunEdison monocrystalline PV modules. Construction is expected to begin in 2015, with commercial operation targeted for early 2016.

TerraForm Power, SunEdison’s yieldco subsidiary, has the option - but not the obligation - to purchase the project once it achieves commercial operation. A day prior to SunEdison’s Comanche announcement, TerraForm Power received approximately $533.5 million from its initial public offering, in addition to gross proceeds of $65.0 million from stock sales in private placement transactions.

Xcel Energy will purchase electricity generated from Comanche Solar under a 25-year power purchase agreement with SunEdison.

 

Pacific Energy Starts $334.1M Navy Project

Pacific Energy Solutions (PES) has broken ground on its $334.1 million solar energy contract with the U.S. Navy to supply approximately 30.4 GWh of electricity annually for use by Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force activities in Hawaii. PES will supply this electricity to the Navy under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

In support of the contract, PES will install 68,645 photovoltaic modules at 14 project sites at military installations on the island of Oahu.

Solar projects authorized under the Navy contract include installations on facility rooftops and parking shade structures, as well as ground-based structures at sites including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Barracks, Puuloa Range, Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe and Camp Smith on Oahu, as well as the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.

Additionally, PES will construct a two-mile underground transmission system beneath the Pearl Harbor Channel.

 

Partners Develop 30 MW At Former N.C. Airport

ET Capital, the U.S. subsidiary of China-based ET Solar, and solar developer Geenex have closed financing and started construction on a 30 MW photovoltaic power project in Halifax County, N.C.

The system is being built on the site of the former Halifax County Airport, which was abandoned upon operation of the new Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport. The array will cover 220 acres and feature about 100,000 modules. Geenex also is building a solar operations and education center adjacent to the solar field.

Upon completion of the solar farm, Geenex and ET Capital plan to sell the facility to Duke Energy Renewables. Electricity from the project will be sold to Dominion North Carolina Power under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

 

DTE Building 1 MW
Carport For Ford

DTE Energy is building a 1 MW solar canopy and carport project at Ford Motor Co.’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.

The project will provide employees with 360 covered parking spaces and 30 charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles. DTE Energy will construct, operate and maintain the carport for 20 years. Construction will be completed in early 2015.

The solar installation is part of DTE Energy’s SolarCurrents program, which aims to enable the utility to generate 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.

This is the second solar collaboration between Ford and DTE Energy. In 2010, the companies teamed up to install a 500 kW solar power panel system at Ford’s assembly plant in Wayne, Mich. Energy generated by the system helps power vehicle production at the plant, where the Ford Focus, Focus Electric, C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi are built.

 

ATI Delivers Trackers For 35 MW Avalon Solar Farm

Array Technologies Inc. (ATI) has completed deliveries of its DuraTrack HZ single-axis solar tracker for the 35 MW Avalon Solar project in Pima County, Ariz. JinkoSolar is supplying 114,750 of its 305 W PV modules for the project.

ATI says the trackers for the project represent its latest model and feature a fully bolted assembly, module clamps with integrated grounding and an increased 120-degree tracking range of motion.

Developer Clenergy acquired the project in January. Swinerton Renewable Energy is building the facility on 500 acres of land adjacent to Asarco’s Mission Mine complex. The site was chosen for its compliance with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program to build renewable energy projects on abandoned land, including old mining sites.

Tucson Electric Power has agreed to take the electricity from Avalon Solar under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

 

GSSG Solar Financing 4.75 MW Denver Portfolio

San Francisco-based GSSG Solar LLC has completed the financing of a 4.75 MW portfolio of solar photovoltaic projects in the Denver area.

The last of the seven ground-mounted, fixed-tilt projects was interconnected in July.

 

2.1 MW Solar Array
Powering Toledo Zoo

A 22-acre brownfield site in Toledo, Ohio, that was once in receivership now hosts a 2.1 MW solar array that will supply about 30% of the Toledo Zoo’s electricity each year.

The solar array and property are owned by a group of local investors led by Rudolph/Libbe. Rudolph/Libbe and subsidiary GEM Energy designed, developed and constructed the solar array and structured the exclusive power purchase agreement with the Toledo Zoo.

The project was built with 28,500 Calyxo thin-film solar modules and Nextronex inverters and combiner boxes. AP Alternatives LLC supplied steel racks for the fixed-tilt ground-mount system.

 

RES Canada Completes Grid Storage System

Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc. says its Amphora energy storage system in Strathroy, Ontario, has been certified for operation.

RES Canada planned, developed and constructed the energy storage system, which it will own and operate. The system incorporates lithium iron phosphate batteries with a range of 8 MW and 2.6 MWh of capacity, which will provide frequency regulation to Ontario’s grid operator, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). The system consists of two containers that house batteries - weighing approximately 20 tons each - and a third container for the inverter. BYD America provided the equipment.

Amphora was developed in response to a request for proposals issued by the IESO and will operate under a three-year agreement. The site was provided by Entegrus, a utility providing electricity, renewable energy and water to southwestern Ontario. R