The Future of Technology and Energy Come Together at Mill 19
It's here high above Mill 19 where Scalo Solar Solutions LLC, a division of Thornburg-based Scalo Companies, is constructing what could be the region's largest solar array: More than 4,600 panels on a roof more than a quarter mile long that will generate enough electricity for all the building's tenants in a $5 million project.
The large panels, which unlike most are see-through for an aesthetic effect on the historic building, are lifted up from a storage area and put into place on Mill 19's long, formerly tin roof. The installation is being done without scaffolding, which would cost about as much as the solar arrays themselves. Instead, the installers are using an innovative system, literally working with a net stretched across the length of the workspace, that allows flexibility and safety in putting the arrays into place.
"On an old steel building, 85 feet in the air, nobody's done anything like it," said Mike Carnahan, general manager of Scalo Solar Solutions.
It will be the biggest solar array in Pittsburgh and one of the biggest in the region, but one of the contractors, Bruce & Merrilees, believes it's also one of the largest sloped-roof solar arrays in the U.S. Bruce & Merrilees is working on the wiring for the project, which will provide 2.5 megawatts, enough electricity to power 264 homes for a year. The power will be used by the building and its tenants, and the system will go through a connection to Duquesne Light Co. that can send electricity back to the grid.
"It will power the whole facility," Carnahan said.
Construction began in October and will continue through the spring. To designer/builder Scalo Solar Solutions, it's a shining example of how solar works for commercial uses.
Mill 19, the redevelopment by the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania of the former J&L Coke Works, is being built at the 178-acre Hazelwood Green, a development that will be home to Aptiv PLC, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, Catalyst Connection and the Manufacturing Futures Initiative of Carnegie Mellon University.
Scalo Solar, which is based in Thornburg, has established itself as a key player in the solar industry.
It has established solar arrays at Giant Eagles and GetGos, for Huntington Bank, and a high-efficiency and solar canopy at Chatham University.
The company also is building a solar array in a high-profile location off the Parkway West for nonprofit Global Links.
The Mill 19 project is even more involved: The building's length is 1,400 feet, and the height is 85 feet. Scalo Solar, and its trade union workers, are installing 4,698 solar panels on the roof. About 10 union employees are working on the project from the carpenters' union, as well as three to four union electricians.
"Mill 19 - as one of the largest rooftop solar projects in the nation - will be an iconic demonstration of how clean energy is both aesthetically pleasing and enormously powerful in its ability to generate a large amount of energy on site," said Sharon Pillar, founder and director of the Pittsburgh-based Pennsylvania Solar Center. "The project is also a visible signal to our region about the direction of the energy economy's future."
Mark Silberg, senior associate at the Rocky Mountain Institute, said the trend of net-zero-energy buildings is starting to become more common among new construction in the Northeast.
"Only recently have the economics made a lot of sense, particularly with the cost of solar and batteries coming down precipitously in the last 10 or 15 years," Silberg said.
Not only are solar arrays allowing a lower of cost of energy, but they're more resilient to outages, he said.
Scalo Solar Solutions | https://www.scalo-solar.com
