Signal Energy Completes Construction on 10.8-MW Solar Farm
Signal Energy LLC, a design/build general contractor to the North American renewable energy industry, completed construction on a 10.8-MW solar farm, part of a major solar project in New Mexico that includes tracking technology to maximize electricity generated from the sun. The solar plant was deployed and will be maintained by SunEdison. Xcel Energy has agreed to purchase the power generated from the solar deployment under a long-term power purchase agreement.
“Signal Energy is proud to be working with SunEdison in bringing clean, renewable energy to Xcel Energy’s New Mexico ratepayers,” said Ben Fisher, president of Signal Energy. “This project is another example of Signal Energy putting our vision of building a clean energy future into action.”
Signal Energy was responsible for the construction of the 10.8-MW PV solar farm located near the Carlsbad regional airport. Signal’s construction of the site included all civil, mechanical and electrical work along with the installation of a single axis tracker system. The use of tracking technology allows solar modules to follow the course of the sun and increases electricity production.
The tracking system installed by Signal Energy has the ability to increase electricity production at the solar farm by more than 20 percent. Approximately 840 tracker rows contain 40,000 PV solar modules; the trackers are supported by over 10,000 steel pile foundations. Array Technologies out of Albuquerque, N.M., manufactured the tracking system.
In 2010 Signal Energy completed work on nine solar energy projects that totaled more than 34 MW. Signal Energy will begin construction on an additional 24 MW of solar in New Mexico later this year. Since 2005, Signal Energy has completed more than 35 renewable energy projects ranging from 10 MW to 120 MW in the United States and Canada.
The solar project will help enable Xcel Energy to continue meeting New Mexico’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires that regulated electric utilities meet 15 percent of their electricity needs by 2015, and 20 percent by 2020, through renewable energy sources.
The U.S. solar energy industry continued its rapid growth through the second quarter of this year, as a result of growing awareness about reliable solar technology, concerns about rising costs of conventional energy, and new state and federal incentives.
Leading the way was the U.S. solar PV market, which installed 314 MW in the second quarter, 69 percent more than the same period last year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)’s latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight report.
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