The project is scheduled to begin generation this summer, barring a recurrence of supply chain issues that have affected electrical components in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, Bates has met its electrical needs with renewable power since 2005, when the college began sourcing its juice in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs, from Maryland-based Constellation Energy. In effect, RECs are documents affirming that a certain amount of power has been generated sustainably. (The college will continue to buy RECs for the roughly 25 percent of its electrical usage not produced by the solar array.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the Skowhegan project will<\/em> change, though, is that Bates, in partnership with ReVision, will take direct responsibility for creating its own green electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leased for the solar project by landowner Jim Henshaw, a farmer, the construction site is open land some distance back from Eaton Mountain Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hidden and tucked away in there, surrounded by forest,\u201d says Brian Byrne, the ReVision project manager overseeing the construction. (The staff land developer for ReVision who helped put the lease arrangement together is Holly Noyes \u201910, who is also a farmer.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some ways, the site was a solar installer\u2019s dream. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice, beautiful, wide-open field. We didn’t have to clear any trees,\u201d Byrne explains. It\u2019s heavily vegetated and very well-drained, meaning that there are no wetlands, no areas vulnerable to erosion, and no threat of stormwater runoff or sediment washing off the site. \u201cFrom a Department of Environmental Protection perspective, this has been the greatest site we’ve ever dealt with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sullying the dream, though, were conditions three or four feet below the soil surface. Typical for a ground-level PV array, the Bates project consists of long rows of solar panels, aka modules, attached to \u201cracks\u201d \u2014 horizontal rails mounted on steel piles that are driven into the earth. So pile driving was the first order of business when construction began last summer. And cue the tension-building music:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe thought this was just going to be a very deep soil, like a sandy loam,\u201d says Byrne, \u201cbut it’s actually incredibly compact, dense clay when you hit about three feet\u201d below the surface, punctuated with boulders. (Marine clay strikes again!<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As is its wont, the clay all but stalled progress. \u201cThis site appeared to be a dream from the surface,\u201d says Byrne, \u201cbut once we started driving these steel piles, which support the racking, we could not drive them in.\u201d Between the clay and the underground boulders, fully half of the 2,500 piles couldn\u2019t be driven to the depth necessary \u2014 below the frost line, more than six feet under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo make matters worse, we could not pull them back out because it was such compacted clay. The amount of force [necessary] was unbelievable. It just seemed to defy physics,\u201d Byrne says. \u201cSo we had to dig them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, Gardiner-based Maine Drilling & Blasting came in to pre-drill holes for the undrivable half of the piles, which are 16-foot steel I-beams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn our ideal world, we wanted all of the modules to be mounted to the racking by the end of December, and that did not happen because the racking was so delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the sake of context, the company fabricating and placing the racks, RBI Solar of Cincinnati, \u201cwas anticipating 12 to 14 weeks to complete this project.\u201d Now completing final punch list items, \u201cthey\u2019re on week 26.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis was the greatest delay we\u2019ve ever encountered for installing racking,\u201d Byrne says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is not to say that the trials of the piles stalled the project outright. \u201cIf there’s an obstacle, we move around it and keep pushing forward,\u201d says Byrne. \u201cWhile we were delayed with racking, there were other things to do.\u201d In conjunction with a regular business partner, Gifford Electric of Brewer, Maine, the project team installed utility poles, equipment racks, DC combiners and transformers; dug trenches for electric lines; and pulled conduits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As this was written, about 60 percent of the 18,486 modules were in place. Two types of solar modules, one slightly more powerful than the other, are being used. Rated at 395 watts is a model made by the German company Qcells: 7,098 of those will be installed. REC Solar produces the other module: 11,388 of those at the Bates site will each generate 380 watts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (In short, here\u2019s more about AC\/DC, and we\u2019re not discussing Angus Young\u2019s stage attire: Sunlight on solar panels generates DC, which is converted to AC for long-distance distribution. The Skowhegan solar plant will inject about 5 MW of AC current into the grid.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each type weighs just over 50 pounds apiece and measures about 80 by 40 inches. Byrne explains that installation is a succession of steps performed in waves by just a handful of people \u2014 pre-positioning components, attaching some hardware, placing the lower row of modules, attaching more hardware, placing the upper row of modules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On average, in benign conditions, a useful rule of thumb is that during a nine-hour day, one installer can mount approximately 75 lower-rack modules or 50 on the upper section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything is prepared before the crew does the task, and that’s how we can maintain efficiency. It stays very organized, very clean. There’s no garbage blowing around the field.\u201d In fact, Byrne adds, \u201cSolar is my favorite construction project. It’s not a typical construction site. Once the excavation\u2019s done and you pound the posts, these are the only silent construction sites there are, and it\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you can hear the birds, and watch the leaves blow and the grass bend, that’s pretty ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not to mention listening to the munching of sheep on the grass that will continue to grow at the project site. Historically used for hay cutting and on-site grazing, Henshaw\u2019s land will continue to support haying twice a year, as prescribed by a land-use permit, and grazing any old time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bates and ReVision have worked together for years, one high-profile result being the installation, over two years, of rooftop solar at the Bates Coastal Center at Shortridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current (no pun intended, but it\u2019s not bad) collaboration dates to the years just prior to the pandemic. Driven in part by strong student interest in sourcing Bates electricity from large-scale solar, the college undertook a rigorous exploration of its options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, the state of Maine enacted legislation that in various ways advanced the cause of renewable energy. One of those bills, L.D. 1711, made financial outcomes \u201cmuch more fair for large solar electricity customers,\u201d explains Tom Twist, Bates\u2019 sustainability manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs soon as that was passed, we were able to hit the ground running\u201d in developing a workable model for involvement in a solar farm. That contrasts with a number of other large solar projects in Maine that are still hanging fire, Twist says. \u201cWe feel really lucky that this is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a member of the Bates EcoReps, students who undertake a variety of campus sustainability projects, economics major Kyung Phil \u201cKP\u201d Ko \u201922 was one of several involved with that modeling process. \u201cWe dug into the proposals sent over by a few parties, ReVision being one of them, to really understand what the benefits to Bates would be,\u201d explains Ko, who now analyzes U.S. utilities and power issues for Scotiabank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce the benefits were understood, we worked this up the decision-maker chain. To be exact, the arrangement was a financial PPA, where Bates could hedge against the volatility of electricity bills thereby bringing us cost savings and monetizable renewable energy credits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReaching construction is a humongous milestone worthy of hoots and holler.\u201d<\/p>\nKP Ko \u201922 <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how happy I am that the project has reached the construction stage,\u201d Ko adds. \u201cWorking in the renewable energy investment banking space, I can tell you that the industry has faced incredible uphill battles over the past year with supply chain issues, inflation, bloated interconnection queues, and what almost was the end of solar investment tax credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReaching construction is a humongous milestone worthy of hoots and holler. I hope to visit Maine sometime soon and see the arrays for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The work of Ko, his classmate Tamsin Stringer, and other students was invaluable to the project. \u201cTo figure out the costs, figure out the net value of solar electricity several years into the future \u2014 all those things were complicated, and the students did a really nice job,\u201d says Twist. \u201cReally professional-level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds, ReVision \u201cknows the ins and outs of the solar market around Maine, and they were really able to help us. I think if we went with someone who wasn’t familiar with Maine, we’d still be stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In sum, when Bates saw the opportunity to go solar in a big way, \u201cwe were ready for it,\u201d says Geoff Swift, the college\u2019s vice president for finance and administration and treasurer. \u201cThere were things that had to happen before other things could happen, so it took a long time to get to where we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut it’s thrilling to have the array in process and going up in Skowhegan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can we talk<\/strong>? Campus Construction Update wants to hear from you. Please send your comments and questions about construction at Bates, as well as your feelings about marine clay<\/a>, to dhubley@bates.edu<\/a>, with “Campus Construction” or “What do sheep count when they can’t sleep?” in the subject line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greening the grid: Bates\u2019 latest sustainability project involves a 20-acre solar electricity array 60 miles from campus in the Maine town of Skowhegan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":151806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"(Off-)Campus Construction Update: Feb. 15, 2023","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[130,232,11009],"tags":[1932,10993],"class_list":["post-151531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collaboration","category-environment-sustainability","category-the-college","tag-campus-construction-updates","tag-solar-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151531"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151809,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151531\/revisions\/151809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Completed](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/02\/230124_ReVision_7102_edit.webp\")
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