Project

IRIS - CONSTRUCTION

Client

Primoris Renewable Energy

Location

Franklinton, LA

Project Size

13MW

Module

First Solar Series 6

Racking

Nevados All Terrain Tracker

Project

Description

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments decided to increase the site capacity of a project in Louisiana but needed the economics of the project to make sense. 70MW of a 2P tracker had already been selected for the site, and the only remaining land to increase capacity contained challenging terrain and tight boundaries. The project was located in hurricane territory, so a robust, but flexible system was required to move forward with developing on this portion of the land.
Nevados

Value

Nevados was selected to increase capacity by using land not accessible by traditional trackers without significant grading. A comparative grading profile of the site was created, showing as great as a 7.8% slope change at a single foundation (Diagram 1). With the Nevados ATT, there was no requirement to grade, as this was well within the system’s capability. Not only did this support the economics of the project from a civil lens, but it also allowed for natural land preservation. When compared with neighboring areas of the site where grading was required with other equipment, the Nevados portion offered increased efficiency during construction. The ungraded land was able to drain water more rapidly after rainstorms, was easier to navigate, and required no soil stabilization effort. Further, the simplicity of equipment install allowed the construction team to recover weeks of unrelated equipment and construction delays.

With uniform foundation reveal heights, the structure was easily built at chest height using pre-assembled bearings that were simply placed on top of the piles with finger-tight bolts. As the torque tubes were installed, the bearings auto-aligned, eliminating the costly bearing alignment steps necessary for other solar trackers. This combination of labor efficiencies positively impacted the construction schedule by making up for lost time spent on other portions of the site. In addition, following completion of the site, there was no requirement to reseed the Nevados portion as vegetation grew back fully without issue.

From a design perspective, the site boundaries were particularly difficult, requiring avoidance of wetlands and the use of variable row lengths. The Nevados ATT effectively adapted to buildable areas of the site to fully maximize available capacity. Where possible, Nevados used shared row ends, sharing the north-most foundation of one row with the south-most foundation of the next. This approach reduces the quantity of foundations and associated tracker components to support in cost saving efforts.

7.8%
Slope Change at a Single Foundation

No Grading Required

Improved Construction Schedule Through Installation Efficiencies

Products & Services
Chief Commercial Officer

Jenya Meydbray

Jenya is the Chief Commercial Officer of Nevados, prior to that he co-founded PVEL in 2010 and served as CEO for the past dozen years. 

He developed the first extended reliability and performance test protocols for the downstream PV industry as well as innovative methods of evaluating PV performance for power plant level risk assessment and mitigation. 

Prior to founding PVEL, Jenya was the Senior Quality and Reliability Engineer at SunPower where he designed accelerated test methods for high-efficiency solar cells and modules. Jenya began his career at NASA Ames Research Center’s hyper-gravity facilities. He also served as VP of Technology for Cypress Creek Renewables, a utility-scale project developer.

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Rick Baldini

Rick has over 18 years of finance experience across several industries including financial services, insurance, real estate, and construction.  Rick is experienced in building, leading, and advising companies through complex restructurings, business expansion and product development.  

Prior to Nevados, Rick was the CFO for Link Real Estate & Urban Land Co, a real estate investment firm, that Rick led to become the fastest growing private company in Central Ohio.  Rick has also been successful in structuring a multi-million-dollar licensing deal with a public company while CFO at Global Administration Management, a boutique consulting firm in the insurance industry.

Rick is a graduate of the University of Arizona where he received a B.S. in Finance and Marketing.