Central Florida solar company
developed, constructed and will operate solar array
Lake Mary, Fl., February
18th, 2014 -
ESA
Renewables (ESA), an
industry leader in providing turnkey solar solutions, is pleased to announce
the completion of a 400 kilowatt (kW) community solar farm on the Gardenia
campus of the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) located at 3800 Gardenia
Avenue in Orlando, FL. The array was
commissioned in October by ESA and has been acquired by Spear
Point Energy; OUC
has agreed to purchase the generated power from Spear Point Energy under a 25-year
power purchase agreement.
The solar farm is the result of many companies coming
together, including Sylvester and Cockrum, ReneSola, Advanced Energy, Chint,
Schletter, ESA, and Spear Point Energy.
“The technology innovation of using Schletter micro-piles
as foundations and precast concrete pads, in addition to the engineering design
using a high density module with a modular canopy with long spans, has cut the
construction schedule in half and minimized the risk factors in a rainy
environment like Florida,” said Javier Latre Gorbe, Vice-President of Technical Operations for ESA Renewables. “The solar array serves dual purposes as a
solar farm and a canopy to 151 LED-lit parking spaces for OUC employees and
guests.”
“We are pleased to have worked closely with
ESA Renewables on the OUC community solar array project, contributing our
services and capabilities of the micro-pile technology and carport structure to
the farm,” said Ryan Kelly, Vice President of Sales for Schletter Inc. Mr.
Kelly went on to add that “The carport structures are comprised of mainly
aluminum, making it maintenance free. This saved an incredible amount of time
and money during the installation process.”
"The CPS 3 Phase string Inverters are ideally
suited for use in solar canopy designs. This decentralized approach provides
reduced installation and BOS costs, lowers O&M costs and improves system
uptime," said Jesse Batista Eastern and Latin American Sales Manager for
Chint Power Systems America.
“It’s humbling working with firms like ESA, which
takes great pride in not only its work, but the selection process to determine
which modules to use in its projects,” said Brian Armentrout, Director of Marketing for ReneSola
America.
The solar farm covers approximately 2.5 acres of the
parking area of OUC’s Gardenia Campus and is expected to produce about 540,000
kWh annually – enough to meet the power needs of about 40 homes. As a community solar farm, it is the first of
its kind in Orlando, and only the second in Florida.
Subscriptions to the community solar farm sold out in
less than a week after 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,
and while initially they will be paying a slight premium for their electricity,
their rate is locked in for 25 years.
"Half of our customers live in
multi-family housing and do not have the ability to add solar to their homes.
Innovative projects like this allow our customers to purchase solar power
without the upfront costs or hassle of installing it and with the added bonus
of being able to lock in their power rate," said Byron Knibbs, OUC Vice
President of Customer & Sustainable Services.
“Spear Point Energy proudly invested in the project due
to several factors: the high quality team, construction, material, equipment
and the smart way OUC structured their community solar program. It is exciting
that OUC is working with the community to allow Orlando residents to own the
power generated by this solar project,” said Michael Johnson, President of
Spear Point Energy. “We are pleased to be a part of bringing the benefits of
community solar to Orlando.”
“This solar farm provides sustainable, green energy and
eliminates the upfront expenses, installation and equipment maintenance costs
associated with individuals installing solar at their own home or business,”
said Lindsay Herold, Chief Operating Officer for ESA Renewables. “ESA is
managing ongoing operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and services for the
solar farm.”
A ribbon-cutting celebration was held at OUC’s Gardenia
Campus near John Young Boulevard in Orlando at the end of October. The solar farm can be seen from Interstate 4,
the main artery running through the city.
About ESA Renewables, LLC
ESA Renewables has
positioned itself as a leader in the industry providing a wide variety of
services to solar PV systems worldwide. ESA activities include project financing,
EPC, commissioning, monitoring, O&M, third party engineering, production simulation
and development. With headquarters in Castellon, Spain, ESA has additional
offices in Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Italy. For more
information about ESA Renewables, LLC, please visit http://www.esarenewables.com or call 407-268-6455.
About Spear Point Energy
Spear
Point Energy is an independent power producer and solar project developer for
commercial and industrial customers, municipalities and utilities throughout
the U.S. Spear Point sells renewable electricity at competitive rates to
customers through power purchase agreements. The company finances, develops,
builds, owns and operates solar power systems ranging from 100 kilowatts to 20
megawatts in size. Spear Point Energy is online at http://www.spearpointenergy.com.
About Schletter Inc.
Schletter has designed, developed, and manufactured solar mounting products in
the U.S. since 2008, while backed with more than 20-years of solar mounting
experience from Schletter GmbH. Schletter Inc maintains three manufacturing
facilities in North America and is headquartered in Shelby, North Carolina.
Since opening its United States facility in Tucson, Arizona, Schletter Inc. has
manufactured more than 1 GW of installed PV mounting systems. Schletter Inc.
offers products for roof mount and ground mount systems for residential,
commercial, and utility scale photovoltaic systems. Schletter Inc. is an
independent subsidiary of Schletter GmbH, which operates subsidiaries in eleven
countries with more than 1,800 employees worldwide. For more information on
Schletter GmbH, please visit http://www.schletter.de.
About ReneSola
Founded in 2005, ReneSola (NYSE:SOL) is a
leading brand and technology provider of solar PV products. Leveraging its
proprietary technologies, economies of scale and technical expertise, ReneSola
uses in-house virgin polysilicon and a vertically integrated business model to
provide customers with high-quality, cost-competitive products. ReneSola solar
modules have scored top PVUSA Test Conditions (PTC) ratings with high annual
kilowatt-hour output, according to the California Energy Commission (CEC).
ReneSola solar PV modules can be found in projects ranging in size from a few
kilowatts to multi-megawatts in markets around the world, including the United
States, Germany, Italy, Belgium, China, Greece, Spain and Australia. For more
information, please visit http://www.renesola.com.
About Chint Power Systems America
CPS
America is a leader in advanced PV inverter solutions including residential
string, commercial and utility products.
Rooted with a culture of innovation driving cost effective high
performance, the leadership and development teams have deep experience in
telecommunications power systems where reliability, uptime and efficiency are
paramount. Chint Power, with 1GW inverter capacity, is a division of Chint
Group, a $4B global firm with business units focused on power electronics,
industrial automation, power transmission and distribution and solar panels. http://www.chintpower.com/na.
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