RPCS’s TOP PROJECTS of 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, we’re looking back at the years many successes! Here’s a look at some of our top solar projects in 2018.
CalPoly’s First Solar Farm
CalPoly partnered with REC Solar and RPCS to design, construct, and install an 18.5-acre 4.5 MW AC solar site. Financed by Duke Energy via a power purchase agreement, CalPoly purchases energy at a lower rate without paying upfront for the cost of the system’s construction and maintenance.
The solar farm uses ground-mounted single-axis tracking technology from RPCS partner Array Technologies and contains more than 16,000 solar panels. Located on the western side of the CalPoly campus in San Luis Obispo, California, it is set to generate more than 11 million kWh each year (enough to power over 1,000 homes), and will produce up to 25% of the university’s total electricity needs while creating nearly $17 million in savings.
MCE Solar One
MCE Solar OneMCE Solar One, the Bay Area’s largest publicly owned solar project, is a new 60-acre, 10.5 MW ground mount solar farm in Richmond, California, built on an old Chevron oil refinery. The project deployed approximately 80,000 ground mounted modules, and a portion of the site uses Array Technologies’ DuraTrack® HZ v3 single-axis tracker, supplied and installed by RPCS. MCE Solar One generates renewable energy to power 3,417 homes per year.
McAllen Ranch
McAllen RanchRPCS and Statewide Renewable partnered to build a 1.2MW solar site on one of the oldest continuously owned tracts of land in the United States. The ranch has been owned by the McAllen family since 1791, an original Spanish land grant. The high overhead of ranch operations necessitated a search for electricity cost mitigation, but paramount to cutting costs was preserving the historic land.
The site also features RPCS’s Plug-N-Play Solar Tracker system, which integrates Array’s single-axis tracker, Shoals Technologies’ electric balance of systems wiring solutions, and the Cambria County Association for the Blind and Handicapped (CAB Solar) above-ground messenger wire cable management system. This system significantly simplifies tracker project install by reducing trenching by 50%, utilizing less specialized labor, and requiring less time—all resulting in faster time to completion and CAPex savings.
Cloud County Community College
Cloud County Community CollegeRPCS partnered with Cloud County Community College to supply Array Technologies’ single axis solar trackers for a 200kw site. The site will service the campus’s energy needs, and will be installed by students enrolled in the Cloud County Community College Solar Energy Technology program. The program is centered around hands-on training for solar projects, including construction and electrical training for both residential and commercial solar.
Former Fill Site in Atkinson, Nebraska
Former Fill Site in Atkinson, NebraskaRPCS worked with the City of Atkinson, Nebraska, GenPro Energy Solutions and TerraSmart to build an innovative 209kw solar array on a former fill site. GenPro Energy Solutions, the project’s developer, brought design and custom energy solution integration expertise to the project while RPCS helped drive a creative solution to a complex engineering issue. The city formerly used the Atkinson-owned site for fill, a place where soil, trees, and debris were brought then covered with dirt. Because of the nature of the site, project construction initially saw particular challenges. With embedment depths up to 30 feet—three times the norm—needed for proper installation of the foundation, using longer than normal I-beams would have added significant costs for construction and material. Moreover, loose soil and debris could cause refusal of the post for a regular piledriver.
The project uses TerraSmart‘s innovative ground screw foundation posts, a seamless solution to the challenging nature of the site’s subsurface conditions. TerraSmart’s ground screws have a better ability to resist uplift than I-beams in loose soil and can drill into debris, reducing upfront construction costs and eliminating subsurface risks.
