Projects of the Month

Project of the Month - May 2012

21 Acres Center 25.6kW Photovoltaic System

With Mt. Rainier to the south and the entrance to the new 21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living to the north, one cannot help but be awed by the roof-to-roof coverage of the 25.6kW solar energy system! 21 Acres is a non-profit organization committed to supporting sustainable, local food systems through its school, commercial kitchen and farm market with an eye on changing the conventional food system landscape.The innovative facility is designed to LEED standards targeting a platinum rating. The design incorporates numerous energy and water conservation features to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and our natural environment.

From the facility’s initial conceptualization over six years ago, the incorporation of renewable energy was never a question for 21 Acres, but rather, how large would the array need to be to offset 10% of their consumption. The initial design included both photovoltaic and solar hot water. After assessing the needs of the facility it was determined that the water usage was small, not justifiable for a solar hot water system. Instead, more PV panels were added to reach their production goal. To meet this goal, 21 Acres partnered with Sunergy Systems back in 2007 for the system design and all the way through the building’s completion last fall.

Project of the Month - April 2012

Community Solar at Jefferson Park

March 21st marked the first day of Spring and the inauguration of Seattle City Light’s first Community Solar project, located at Beacon Hill’s Jefferson Park. The installation consists of three stand-alone solar picnic shelters, using a total of 120 Silicon Energy (SiE) 195 watt Cascade Series modules and four SiE5300 inverters. The arrays are configured to have two strings of 15 modules per inverter. The two smaller shelters located next to the community center consist of 30 modules (6 rows of 5) with a 5.85kW DC power rating each, and the large shelter to the north consists of 60 modules (6 rows of 10) with an 11.7 kW DC rating. The base structure is made of intentionally rusted 6x6 steel columns, beams and rafters. The system was installed by Artisan Electric, Inc.

Project of the Month - March 2012

9.4kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system Tumwater, WA

3400 Capitol Boulevard still looks like any other office building in Tumwater when viewed from the street. However it’s 48 panel solar array makes it unique to every office building around. Owned by Renee Ries, whose business Fairchild Record Search is the main tenant, this building has undergone quite the journey. Starting with an Energy Audit by Thurston Energy, all the way to applying for financing from the USDA’s REAP program, the collaboration of many local organizations is what made it all possible.

After the building received an upgrade of over 100 lighting fixtures, South Sound Solar was asked for a proposal to install a solar array. Renee wanted to maximize the production incentive, something that would require the 54 cents per kWh of Made in Washington panels. It also required a racked system, as the building’s roof was flat. After consulting with an engineer about how the building would handle the mounting, the system design was finalized to meet the owner’s budget, energy goals, and investment criteria.

Project of the Month - February 2012

Riverview Elementary School & Machias Elementary School, Snohomish

Philip Riedel, AIA, LEED AP+, NAC|Architecture
Mark Humiston, PE, Hargis Engineers

The Snohomish School District has included two 100 kW photovoltaic arrays as part of recently-constructed projects, Riverview Elementary School and Machias Elementary School, designed by NAC|Architecture with Hargis Engineers. Both arrays are now operating, providing the District with some relief on its energy bills from Snohomish PUD.

Riverview Elementary School, rooftop 100 kW array

During the planning process for replacing these schools, the design committee identified a goal of making the new buildings “models of sustainability”. The District noted the uncertainty of future funding and the unpredictability of future energy prices, so they wanted to make their capital expenditures generate lasting value. The design team responded with a host of energy-saving strategies, such as closed-cell spray foam insulation, triple-pane windows, extensive daylighting with automatically-dimming light fixtures, energy-efficient systems including ground-source heat exchange, displacement ventilation and heat recovery systems. Both schools have earned the “Designed to Earn Energy Star” designation from the US EPA. Each school has a “green touchscreen” in the entry lobby, where students and others can see the school’s energy use and solar energy production. The information is also on the web, go to http://riverview.ssd.greentouchscreen.com/ and click on Explore, Live Energy Data, and then on the Solar Energy Produced button. You can select to look at the graph by year, month, week or day.

Project of the Month – January – BIPV Horse Stable

Artisan Electric’s first installation of the New Year is a BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) 5.8 kW made-in-Washington system, using 30 Silicon Energy (SiE) 195 Watt Cascade Series modules and the new SiE5300 inverter. The system is installed as the roof of a horse stable owned by Steve Brown and family on Vashon Island, WA.

Building integrated systems utilize PV materials in the architecture of the building envelope in place of conventional roofs, skylights and windows. BIPV modules serve the dual function of a building skin and power generator, eliminating structural redundancy. By avoiding the cost of conventional building materials, the incremental cost of BIPV is reduced and the life-cycle cost of the building is improved. Moreover, modules such as the Silicon Energy Cascade Series and Sanyo HIT Double bifacial panels use a double glass module that allows some sunlight to penetrate portions of the panel, taking architectural and aesthetic advantage of ambient light and shadows.