The recent ribbon-cutting of the Rincon Solar 1 power plant near Savannah, Georgia, marked a milestone for Inovateus and its project partners. The 16 MWAC system, occupying the site of a former timber farm, is the largest solar installation we’ve managed to date. As the embedded drone video shot during construction shows, the project is a beautiful example of how solar power plants can blend with the surrounding countryside.
Rincon has been sending clean energy to Georgia Power as part of the utility’s power purchase agreement with owner-operator AES Distributed Energy since the end of 2016. The system is expected to provide at least 32,000 megawatt-hours of solar generated electricity annually, enough to power more than 2800 households on the utility’s grid network.
The bill of materials comprising the installation is impressive: 67,284 SolarWorld and Canadian Solar modules, 64 ATI single-axis trackers, 162 32-string Shoals combiner boxes, and 27 Schneider inverters. Kudos to our suppliers and the Inovateus procurement team for the logistical execution of delivering all those components and systems to the work site.
Inovateus and our construction partners faced some unexpected challenges from Mother Nature that we successfully addressed, especially from mid-May through the end of June. During that time, the site received several inches of rain per week, particularly from Tropical Storm Bonnie, which closed US 95.
During this rainy period, the Rincon site faced a cycle of precipitation and drainage, where we’d get the site mostly dried out, get back to work, and then another storm would roll in. In fact, there was a two-week period when the drainage ditch on both sides of the main road overflowed, creating a solar field swamp. Finally, the sun returned and the storm cycle subsided, enabling us to drain the area and complete our mission.
Along with our construction partners, Gregory Electric, we finished the installation of the gear, re-greened the arrays with bushels of grass seeds, and connected the solar farm to the nearby substation and Georgia Power grid infrastructure with 35 KV cable.
The most notable aspect of Rincon is the 230 kVA interconnection, the first such engineering feat in our project portfolio. Given the robustness of the local transmission corridor, careful planning and in-depth studies were required to make sure there was no disruption to the network when the solar plant came online.
The extended development process and methodical execution of Rincon proves that we have what it takes to perform long-term solar generation planning with utilities. Our experience working with Georgia Power was very positive, and we look forward to engaging with them on future projects.
Rincon Solar 1 won’t be the biggest completed project in Inovateus’ portfolio for long: the 48 MWAC Lapeer, Michigan, project we’re managing will be online in a few months. Stay tuned for more information on the Lapeer solar farm in future blogs.
By Mauricio Anon, brand ambassador, Inovateus Solar
