Denver Federal Center to Have Solar Power Facility Soon

Denver Federal Center (DFC) campus of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is about to conclude its solar project with a capability to generate around 7 MW.

The power production from the project when combined with its existing1.2 MW solar power facility will generate enough power to meet over 15% power requirements of DFC every year, which can be equated to providing solar power for 1,064 homes for a period of one year. The final phase of the project originally planned for 3.45 MW has been raised to 3.5 MW. The project is anticipated to get completed by the year end of 2011 and will remain the biggest solar installation for GSA in the USA.

GSA initiated and installed its first 1.2 MW solar PV facility with 6,192 solar panels in 2007 at its 624-acre campus located in Lakewood, Colorado. The administration has received an additional funding for installing 7 MW solar power facility in 2009 and awarded the design and build contract to Colorado- based joint venture of E Light Wind and Solar and Centerre. The first phase of the contract, which includes design and installation and replacement of roof was completed and started generating power from December 2010. The 3.2 MW installation completed over the buildings 20, 56 and 810 includes 14,612 roof mounted solar panels designed to generate 224 W power each.

In the last phase of the project, 14,352 solar panels each with a power production capability of 245 W were installed. The panels required for the final phase are manufactured at Hillsboro, Ore., and Carmarillo, California located production facilities of SolarWorld. The ground mounting structures required for the project are supplied by Schletter, a company located in Arizona and the racking for the carport installation will be provided by the Utah located Tra-Mage. Satcon, a California located company is chosen to supply the PV inverters required for the project.