The pounding of posts gave way to the clanging of racking assembly at the beginning of the month, and we’re happy to say that the racking on our 1.2 MW project is fully installed.  The crews are now running conduit to and from the inverters and doing some finishing touches on the above ground electrical prior to the solar modules arriving.  They are taking full advantage of the unseasonably warm November weather knowing that could turn any day and slow things considerably.  Fortunately, we are at least a week ahead of schedule thanks to the hard work of our construction partners at J. Ranck Electric.

A common question on racking is why did we choose fixed racks over tracking ones (that move with the sun)?  In southern climates, developers often use single and dual axis trackers to snag every bit of exposure possible.  It is worth the heavy premium in racking costs, operations and maintenance.  In northern climates, the incremental gains from trackers aren’t as great because of the low sun along the horizon and the natural seasonality.  On top of that, our colder winters and associated snow load are a lot harder on the equipment.  We’ve even adjusted our optimum tilt angle up a few degrees to help relieve stress on the equipment in case of heavy snowfall.

Thanks for following along,

Sam Hogg
Project Developer
Spartan Renewable Energy