West Greenwich 2.1MW Solar Project

Mass. Electric Construction Co. (MEC) began work on the 2.1MW solar project in West Greenwich, Rhode Island in April 2013. This was the first solar project installation completed by MEC during the winter, and snow and ice were a major concern when it came to safety. Weather also played a major factor in how many trenches could be open at one time. Snow could melt in the trenches and freeze the installed conduit. Correctly ordering materials and scheduling crews were instrumental in the completion of this project on time.

MEC crews installed:

• 7,480 Modules
• RBI Racking System (792 posts driven)
• 28 combiner boxes
• 4 advanced energy inverters – (2) 333kW Solaron and (2) 500kW Solaron
• Data Acquisition System (DAS)
• 21,720 LF underground conduit
• 26,050 LF feeder cable

The site was located on a 15 degree slope from east to west, which added challenges to installation. There was also a 60 foot hill on site, which added more challenges when pulling the 15kV cable. At peak, MEC crews consisted of twenty-five IBEW Local 223 Members. The project was completed in June 2013 - with no safety incidents.