Project Description
Prairie Power
- Two identical 636kW system designs
- Multi-site construction coordination
- First of it’s kind interactive outdoor learning and visitor’s center
PROJECT Overview
Azimuth won a competitive tender process to engineer, procure, and construct two solar-PV energy systems totaling 1.3 MW for Prairie Power, Inc (PPI) and its host members: Spoon River Electric Cooperative and Shelby Electric Cooperative. PPI is an electric generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, and supplying electricity to eleven cooperatives across the state. Like many utilities, PPI is striving to develop sustainable and financially beneficial means to expand the amount of renewable energy in its generation portfolio. These two ground-mounted systems, built at the same time with multiple crews, each produce about 900 MWh of energy annually for the PPI members.
Location:
Shelbyville and Astoria, Illinois
Scope:
1.27 MW dispersed evenly (636 kW) between both sites
Estimated Annual Production:
890 MWh annually per site
Design Rationale and System Architecture
Ground-mounted arrays using galvanized-steel, driven-pile, fixed-axis racking system for speed of installation and performance, and the planned fabric-and-ballast grade treatment. We selected compact, transformer-less string inverters to minimize losses, reduce construction cost, improve performance, and simplify maintenance.
Additional civil site work entailed installing a geotextile fabric before rocking the array field to serve as a vegetation barrier and facilitate long-term maintenance. The combination of fabric and rock allowed all weather access during construction minimizing delays in meeting the scheduled operation date.
Project Challenges
The multi-site project included simultaneous site construction under a tightly sequenced schedule. Wet weather delayed the project at the onset, but the team worked together to get the project completed before the expected commercial operation date. Close coordination with both host cooperative teams along with senior leadership at PPI assisted in effective communication and execution throughout all phases of the project.
As part of the public outreach and learning objectives for this project, we worked with the host Cooperative to construct an interactive learning center adjacent to one of the sites. The outdoor learning facility features multiple exhibits and interactive components designed to be kid-friendly for ages 5 and up, and is open daily from dawn to dusk.
“The Azimuth Energy team delivered our two 636kW-DC solar projects on time and on budget. They were easy to work with, diligent and flexible. They are good communicators with a willingness to listen as well as to educate. We look forward to an opportunity to work with them again in the future.”
Robert D. Reynolds, VP Member Cooperative Services, Prairie Power, Inc.
CONTACT US
If you would like to set up a time to talk or if you just have a quick question, feel free to send us a message. We look forward to helping you or your organization any way we can.