Work on the Onion River Photo voltaic Venture within the City of Holland is on monitor, however that is not one thing that ought to be attributed to the delicate climate up to now this winter.
Tony Palese, a senior communications associate at Alliant Vitality, stated the delicate climate is each a boon and a bane.
Whereas the nice and cozy temperatures and no snow make it simpler to drive the piles, it additionally makes it more difficult to get heavy gear out and in of the positioning within the muddy floor, he stated.
Palese stated that final month Alliant accomplished civil web site work for the challenge – grading, creating driveways and entry roads and getting ready laydown areas for building gear.
The corporate can also be putting in underground energy cables, which make up about 40% of the entire energy cables for the challenge, he stated.
A lot of the remaining electrical work concerned stringing cables between the photo voltaic panels, he stated.
Crews additionally started putting in pilings, the metallic pillars that anchor the photo voltaic array buildings to the bottom, he stated.
Because the piles are positioned, crews will set up the racking system, which permits the photo voltaic panels to maneuver and comply with the solar, on high of them, Palese stated.
“It is a number of repetitive work,” he stated, noting that there are extra piles and racks to be put in.
After that, he stated, work will start on the set up of photo voltaic panels and inverters – in all probability this spring – adopted by testing and commissioning.
“It is a large milestone for our building staff to place up the primary panel,” Palese stated.
Palese famous that as work started on the piles and racks, the corporate additionally put up a fence across the web site.
The fence is supposed to maintain deer and different massive animals out, though smaller animals like rabbits can nonetheless get in, Palese stated.
The fence is about 8 ft excessive and consists of picket posts with 4-inch wire mesh.
“It is not like a sequence hyperlink fence,” Palese stated. “It is barely noticeable.”
Lastly, he added, the corporate will set up some vegetative screening, akin to bushes, to assist soften the look.
Work has began once more on the substation that may join the photo voltaic array to the primary electrical grid, stated Palese. The substation, positioned on Risseeuw Highway west of Freeway GW, is subsequent to the prevailing Holland substation, he stated.
Palese stated about 200 crews are engaged on the 1,000-acre web site in Sheboygan County.
The Onion River Photo voltaic Venture, which broke floor final summer time, is a 150-megawatt photo voltaic farm that may include 387,000 photo voltaic panels when full.
Crews are anticipated to drive 70,000 to 80,000 piles to anchor these panels, the corporate stated.
The photo voltaic farm, which is able to produce sufficient electrical energy to energy 40,000 properties within the space and your entire Midwest energy grid, is predicted to come back on-line by the tip of this yr.
