Page 17 - North American Clean Energy September/October 2019 Issue

At completion, the south eave of the structure measured at 32 ft, while the north end was a mere 50ft in height.
This massive steel structure spanned a total 510 ft, which ended up creating a masterful design for shade, even spanning across the existing Sousa Farms Inc. office and warehouse. Mr. Sousa wasn’t exactly after shade, however. Instead, his goal was the 85,000 sq. ft rooftop footprint which would become home to Sousa Farms Inc’s 1.16MW DC PV system.
The Photovoltaic Grid Tied system
is comprised of (3,335) 335w 72 cell panels and (18) 50kw and (2) 30kw String Inverters. The PV system is monitored through a web-based monitoring portal. Choosing a monitoring service involved finding a platform with as much detailed information as possible. Mr. Sousa is
very detail oriented when it comes to his farming processes, so it only makes sense that he would decide on a web-based monitoring program that would allow him to dissect the inverter’s analytics (watts, voltage, amps and kwh production).
A master of numbers and American ingenuity, Mr. Sousa prides himself on engineering, data spreadsheets, and a work-smarter-not-harder mentality.
The contractor used their engineering experience to apply this same premise to the system design: trapezoidal roof mounts were the base of the racking system, which included over 20,000 ft
of aluminum rail attached across 5,900 aluminum cube mounts, and multiple walkways that were designed to allow access for maintenance and cleaning.
The system has an anticipated energy production of over 1.5 million kWh in
year one – enough power to fully charge 30,000 Tesla Model 3’s. In Mr. Sousa’s case, the energy will be diverted in a different direction: the system will be able to offset multiple irrigation pumps that feed acres of walnuts and cucumbers across the Sousa Farms ranch, which included three homes and a main office.
A project of 1.16MW wouldn’t normally grab anyone’s attention, but when you take a close look, you’ll see that it’s the structure that makes this system truly unique, and a great asset to the Sousa family and their business operation. Months later, into the early summer of 2019, it was finally time to flip the switch; the Permission to Operate was issued by PG&E on June 4th, 2019, and the solar system went live. Not only are they reducing their carbon footprint and providing clean energy to the grid, Sousa Farms has grown into a forward-thinking business, driving the local economy and putting food on the table.
Chris Greenmyer is Project Manager at Lenzi Incorporated, a California-based construction company with 40 years’ experience in general contracting and development. Since starting a solar division in 2010, Lenzi has constructed and developed a combined 135MW of PV throughout the country.
Lenzi Incorporated /// lenziconstructionandsolar.com
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