November 2006 Newsletter Table of Contents
	Single-Family Ratings Reveal Green Building Trends
	Meridian Energy Systems Installs Texas’ Largest Solar Electric System
	Member Bulletin Board

Meridian Energy Systems Installs Texas’ Largest Solar Electric System

In April 2006, Meridian Energy Systems completed the installation of a 180 kW grid-connected photovoltaic array, the largest operating PV system in Texas. The system is located on barracks housing medical technicians-in-training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

The design and installation of this system was Meridian’s most ambitious project to date and Meridian Project Manager, David Brearley, says the job was both challenging and rewarding. The system was installed on top of nine separate roof surfaces (see photo). Each roof had a variety of vents and drains that had to be accommodated and it took some tricky maneuvering to ensure that all the modules could be installed as planned. Also challenging was elevating four 700 lb transformers and four 450 lb inverters 40 feet to the roof. This was accomplished in a single day with the help of a 54-foot extension reach forklift. Once the equipment was on the roof, it had to moved, by hand, to the equipment storage buildings. This was accomplished, says Brearley, by "thinking like Egyptians."

The system is metered and monitored separately from the power provided by City Public Services, San Antonio’s local utility. “Initially our primary objective for going with PV was to try and not exceed the demand charge from CPS,” Gene Rodriguez, Fort Sam’s Project Manager and PV expert. “The solar constant is something like 1500 Btu's/sq. ft./ per day. That is a lot of energy going to waste.” The cumulative solar kWs and dollar savings from the PV system are displayed on a monitor as part of a base-wide Utility Monitoring and Control System (UMCS). Ft. Sam estimates that the PV system is saving the base close to $1000 a month in energy costs.

Those cost savings may be one of the reasons that the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) is honoring this project as a co-winner of the 2006 Project of the Year award.  The other TREIA project winner is the Mckinney Green Building in McKinney, Texas.  Coincidentally, Meridian also designed and installed that building's 45 kW solar electric system, which will provide 10% of the building's energy. Meridian's reputation for consistent, high-quality workmanship is well-deserved.  Will White, the Lead Program Engineer of the Utility Monitoring and Control System (UMCS) team at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama, felt that Meridian’s work on the Ft. Sam project was outstanding. “The workmanship and the engineering on this job impressed me. We finished the job on time and within budget. We actually had some contingency funds that we did not use that we will return to the program. It was in all respects one of the most satisfying and successful jobs I’ve been associated with. No safety violations, no re-submittals, no unhappy customers… the guys just worked hard and did all they promised.”

Is Camouflage the New Green?

The solar electric system is part of a Utility Monitoring and Control System that monitors energy performance base-wide. According to Rodriguez, the base’s first foray into renewable energy was several years ago when they installed a 45 kW system used for preheating hot water. The fact that the first system worked so well helped Rodriguez get the green light for the larger barracks installation. Rodriguez says the base was not aware that their PV array was the largest in Texas but he was pleased to hear it and said that his ultimate goal is to install a 1 Megawatt central plant on the base.

Funding for this project came through the Energy Conservation Investment Program (ECIP) which has been providing funds for energy conservation projects since 2001 based on Executive Order 13123 which directed the Federal Government to reduce it’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and increase its use of renewable energy. Funding is determined project-by-project, based on a combination of savings to investment ratio and payback period. The ECIP has funded a small but growing number of PV projects, the Fort Sam installation being one of the program’s largest to date.