Projects of the Month
Temp POTM
Project of the Month - February 2012
Riverview Elementary School & Machias Elementary School, Snohomish
Philip Riedel, AIA, LEED AP+, NAC|Architecture
Mark Humiston, PE, Hargis Engineers
The Snohomish School District has included two 100 kW photovoltaic arrays as part of recently-constructed projects, Riverview Elementary School and Machias Elementary School, designed by NAC|Architecture with Hargis Engineers. Both arrays are now operating, providing the District with some relief on its energy bills from Snohomish PUD.
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Riverview Elementary School, rooftop 100 kW array |
During the planning process for replacing these schools, the design committee identified a goal of making the new buildings “models of sustainability”. The District noted the uncertainty of future funding and the unpredictability of future energy prices, so they wanted to make their capital expenditures generate lasting value. The design team responded with a host of energy-saving strategies, such as closed-cell spray foam insulation, triple-pane windows, extensive daylighting with automatically-dimming light fixtures, energy-efficient systems including ground-source heat exchange, displacement ventilation and heat recovery systems. Both schools have earned the “Designed to Earn Energy Star” designation from the US EPA. Each school has a “green touchscreen” in the entry lobby, where students and others can see the school’s energy use and solar energy production. The information is also on the web, go to http://riverview.ssd.greentouchscreen.com/ and click on Explore, Live Energy Data, and then on the Solar Energy Produced button. You can select to look at the graph by year, month, week or day.
Project of the Month – January – BIPV Horse Stable
Artisan Electric’s first installation of the New Year is a BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) 5.8 kW made-in-Washington system, using 30 Silicon Energy (SiE) 195 Watt Cascade Series modules and the new SiE5300 inverter. The system is installed as the roof of a horse stable owned by Steve Brown and family on Vashon Island, WA.
Building integrated systems utilize PV materials in the architecture of the building envelope in place of conventional roofs, skylights and windows. BIPV modules serve the dual function of a building skin and power generator, eliminating structural redundancy. By avoiding the cost of conventional building materials, the incremental cost of BIPV is reduced and the life-cycle cost of the building is improved. Moreover, modules such as the Silicon Energy Cascade Series and Sanyo HIT Double bifacial panels use a double glass module that allows some sunlight to penetrate portions of the panel, taking architectural and aesthetic advantage of ambient light and shadows.
Project of the Month - December - Stone Hedge
Stone Hedge, a 5,500 square foot home is currently connected to the largest residential grid tied Solar array in Thurston County. Once the contract was signed on August 8th, it was a scramble for workers from Sunset Air Inc. in Lacey to get the 23 KW project completed in time for the 2011 South Sound Solar tour on October 1st.
Located in the Canterwood development just outside of Olympia, the Hickey residence now boasts (96) 240 watt ground mounted Solar World solar panels combined with six Silicon Energy SiE 4.2 Aurora Power One inverter assemblies. State incentives for this combination will be calculated at $.18/Kwh for all energy generated by this system.
For more information about this project contact Sunset Air Inc. at http://www.sunsetair.com.
November - Poulsbo Middle School Community Solar Project
The state’s first full size, 75-kW community solar project has been completed on Poulsbo Middle School. Coming on line last March, the project was installed at no cost to the school. Instead, a group of community members financed the installation and are now eligible for up to $5,000 a year in incentive payments.
The community solar legislation, passed in 2010, allows the maximum incentive only on solar arrays whose components are manufactured in state. The middle school’s project is made up of 15 inverters and 120 modules, all manufactured by Silicon Energy of Marysville.
Lander Contractors and Frederickson Electric of Port Townsend did the installation.
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