McKenzie Solar 30MW Power Plant

In August, the Capital Branch partnered with the Northern California Solar Energy Association to host a presentation and tour of the McKenzie Solar 30MW Power Plant near Galt. Representatives from the Contractor: Swinerton Renewable Energy, Civil Engineer: RBF Consulting, and Electrical Engineer: Rex Moore were on hand to lead event attendees through the design and construction of the array, highlighting critical decisions made by the team. When the panel installation is finished, a custom hydroseed blend will be spread to develop ground-cover to control erosion; sheep will be used to control the height of the grass. The solar array will be in operation for several decades and will be decommissioned, and the land returned to agricultural use at the end of the lease term.

Construction on the solar array began in early 2012 and is scheduled to be completed this fall. The array consists of 134,400 PV modules by Yingli mounted on 26,235 steel H-piles ranging from 4 foot to six foot in height. It is estimated that the project will product enough electricity to provide power for any one of the following: 15,000 average homes with central air, 750 fast food restaurants, 115 large retail stores, 95 grocery stores, 75 large home improvement stores, or 4 Sears Towers. It will reduce CO2 emissions by more than 3.9 million metric tons, equal to 160 million trees planted or 5 billion miles traveled by a SUV.