Solar Power Partners, which owns and operates the solar equipment, set up a power purchase agreement (PPA) with WCWD. The agreement enables WCWD to buy the electricity at a contractually fixed rate (essential in its budgeting process), helping it to manage its operating costs and keep billings as low as possible for its ratepayers.

In addition, the installation, designed and installed by Premier Power, represents the largest dual-axis, sun-tracking solar power project in the United States. Premier Power located 89 dual-axis trackers, manufactured by ET Solar, across the WCWD Richmond treatment facility site, including 28 trackers that rise above the potential high-water line of a storm-water storage pond.

Premier Power built all of the tracking towers to withstand flooding and submersion while meeting all seismic restrictions and solving soil engineering challenges. WCWD will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 18 to dedicate the system.

"The West County Wastewater District is a great example of a public entity acting as an environmental steward in its daily operations. Their strong environmental record is now enhanced by their use of clean renewable power to power the plant," said Alex von Welczeck, President and CEO, Solar Power Partners.

"This project is also a perfect example of where a municipal entity can join hands with the private sector to deploy solar at no cost to the ratepayers. WCWD is making dual-purpose use out of its land, helping solve global warming and building budgeting stability for its ratepayers. We are proud to count WCWD as our customer."

E.J. Shalaby, General Manager at the West County Wastewater District added, "In terms of using renewable energy to help run our treatment plants, there is no debate. One of our main tasks is to promote environmental responsibility and compliance. As a public agency, however, the upfront costs for purchasing a solar energy system were high and difficult to justify since we could not take advantage of federal tax credits. When SPP approached us with an option to lock in the price for 35 percent of our electricity usage, using a PPA and renewable energy generated on site, it made perfect sense. Although the original design turned out to be more challenging than expected, due to the nature of the soils on our site, SPP helped find an alternative solution. SPP engaged Premier Power who brought in a completely new technology, dual-axis trackers. The solar panels follow the sun increasing the system's efficiency by up to 35 percent compared to a similar sized system mounted in a fixed position. The solution is elegant, and the PPA structure is helping us keep costs down for our rate payers."

President of Premier Power, Dean R. Marks added, "Our engineering team discovered this large scale tracker solution out of our European operations and felt that their design and capabilities provided the best option for meeting the site challenges and production needs of WCWD and SPP. This project is an excellent example of Premier Power's ability to leverage its international best practices and unique engineering and design capabilities in collaboration and coordination with the planning, managing and financial modeling expertise of SPP. The project faced both economic and technical challenges that Premier and SPP combined to overcome... We hope that the success of this project will motivate other municipal entities to explore renewable energy solutions."

The System
WCWD's installation spans five acres of land and consists of 89 tracking arrays. Measuring approximately 22-by-36 feet each, the arrays contain 56 modules with a total peak power of about 11.24 kilowatts (kW) each.

The trackers sit above ground on concrete ballasts, which distribute the weight and enable use on the challenging Bay Mud and other soils of the site.

At the end of the system's life, WCWD can remove the trackers and ballasts, returning the land to its original state, leaving no trace of the structures. Premier Power designed the system to produce approximately 1.97 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually.

For comparison, the electricity generated onsite would be approximately enough to meet the annual needs of 3,654 California homes or would be like parking 257 passenger vehicles for a whole year, avoiding the yearly CO2 emissions from using more than 3,265 barrels of oil or from consuming 159,353 gallons of gasoline.

Related Links
Premier Power
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com

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